KATHY BARATTA Their sentiments clear on the signs they carry, with slogans such as “Now do we look happy?,” Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District teachers and librarians rally for their cause.
The contract between teachers in the Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District and the Board of Education is due to expire at the end of this month and negotiations on a new pact are not moving forward to anyone’s satisfaction.
Following negotiations last week between the two sides that were mediated by representatives of the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA), an impasse was declared by Ken Weber, president of the Manalapan Englishtown Education Association (MEEA).
Weber serves as the MEEA’s chairman for the union’s bargaining committee. He told the News Transcript the two sides are at odds over the new contract as it relates to salaries, benefits, personal days, work load and working conditions. Weber would not be specific regarding the union’s demands, but did say a salary increase is being sought.
Following a June 14 rally by the teaching and library staffs in front of the board offices on Main Street, English-town, Weber, who was unanimously given full permission by the rank and file to use "any and all bargaining tools to reach a settlement," joined the NJEA representatives in a meeting with the board’s negotiators.
Weber said the union is seeking an "equitable settlement that lets Manalapan teachers take their rightful place with their colleagues across the state."
After the meeting Weber said, "It did not go well, not well at all," adding that the two sides are now at an impasse.
"To date, the board hasn’t made any significant moves to get us closer to a settlement," he said.
Weber said he has filed for a state mediator from the Public Employees Relations Committee to be involved in the next negotiations session, tentatively scheduled for June 22.
Superintendent of Schools Joseph Scozzari said the board may or may not take action in the matter following a recommendation by the board’s negotiating team. That panel consists of Scozzari, board President Michele Stipleman, board members Diane Padlo and Dennis Walsh, Harriet Bernstein, the assistant superintendent for personnel, and Ray Cassetta, a professional negotiator hired to represent the board in negotiations.
"The board’s position at this point is that it intends to keep on meeting, on agreeable dates, until we come to an agreement," Scozzari.
Asked if a strike in September could be imminent, Weber said, "anything is possible," but added that the union is hoping the situation "won’t have to come to that."
Connie Hitchcock, who has been the Clark Mills School librarian for 12 years, carried a sign at last week’s rally that read, "S-E-T-T-L-E — Students Expect Talented Teachers, Let’s meet their Expectations."
Hitchcock told the News Transcript the staff is looking for benefits that are comparable with other districts. She said it would be "nice" to have the matter settled before the teaching staffs are due back in September.

