By John Lee Grant | 1 hour ago Executive Assistant Beverly Cassano, School Committee member Gail M. Sullivan, Superintendent Margaret Marotta and Assistant Superintendent Michael Pfifferling at a Haverhill School Committee meeting. (WHAV News file photograph.) After nearly a year and a half of back-and-forth negotiations, the Haverhill School Committee and Haverhill Education Association reached agreement last week on pay increases and other benefits for the school’s educational support professionals. School Committee members voted 4-2 last Thursday to ratify a memorandum of understanding that provides ESPs a 2% increase for the current year, paid retroactively to last July 1; another 1.5% increase to take effect July 1, 2022; and a three-step pay scale for the next school year beginning at $21 per hour for one to three years of service, $24 per hour for four to nine years of service and $27 per hour for 10 or more years of service. New hires with bachelors’ degrees start at the second step. In addition, the number of work days increase from 181 to 182 and the schools will allocate $20,000 annually for tuition reimbursement.