Teachers contract talks continue

It took 15 months to negotiate the previous teachers contract.

By: Lea Kahn
   Locked in an impasse over a new contract, negotiators for the school district’s teachers union and school board held their first meeting with a state-appointed mediator Tuesday afternoon.
   Negotiating teams for the Lawrence Township Education Association and the school board began meeting in January to hammer out a new contract before the current one expired June 30, said school board member Michael Winka. He serves on the board’s negotiating team.
   But when the two sides could not reach agreement on a contract before June 30, it was mutually decided to seek mediation, Mr. Winka said. The mediator will help the two sides find a solution to unresolved issues, he said.
   Neither Mr. Winka nor JoAnn Lupo, LTEA president, would comment on the specific issues that are holding up the contract.
   In the meantime, the school district’s teachers and staff head back to school this week without a contract. The terms of the contract that expired will apply until a new one is approved, Miss Lupo said.
   The LTEA includes 385 teachers, guidance counselors, school nurses and child study team members. The remaining 158 members include custodial workers, school secretaries and instructional aides.
   The union does not cover principals or supervisors, who have their own union. It does not include the district’s top administrators, who are not unionized.
   Under the previous contract, LTEA members received an average pay increase of 3.95 percent in the first year, and 4-percent average salary increases in the second and third years. The contract started July 1, 1998 and ended June 30.
   The starting salary for new teachers is $32,400, under that contract. The top salary, which a teacher would reach after 17 years of experience, is $65,910 for those with a master’s degree. A teacher who holds a master’s degree plus 30 additional credit hours earns a maximum of $68,260. The average salary for teachers in the district is $49,000 — reached after about 12 or 13 years of experience.
   It took 15 months to negotiate the contract that just ended. There were three major issues to negotiate — instructional time, health care benefits and salary increases.