encourages teachers
to stay, makes district attractive to candidates
BTEA and school board
agree on contract
Officials: Deal
encourages teachers
to stay, makes district attractive to candidates
By Karl Vilacoba
Staff Writer
The Board of Education and the Brick Township Education Association (BTEA) are hopeful that their new contract agreement will encourage teachers to remain and attract quality candidates to the district.
Board and BTEA officials acknowledged recent difficulties retaining teachers who hadn’t served long in the district. They celebrated the latest agreement as a measure to help fight the trend.
Brick’s 2003-06 agreement offers entry-level salaries and incentives competitive with neighboring districts, they said.
Under the previous agreement, teachers in their first, second and third years earned 4 percent pay raises at the end of each school year. Now, a first-year teacher will earn a 4.3 percent raise, a second-year teacher will earn a 4.5 percent raise and a third-year teacher will earn a 4.6 percent raise, according to Business Administrator Nicholas Puleio.
This pay-raise scale meets a major goal for the district by ensuring teachers will earn over $40,000 annually following their third year in the district, according to school board President Dr. William Boyan.
"It’s not something that will break the bank, but hopefully it will encourage our teachers to stay," Boyan said.
Another incentive in the contract is that all teachers could receive up to $1,000 a year toward college tuition for approved courses. Under the former agreement, a teacher could count on receiving $400 their first year, $600 their second year and $800 after a third year in the district.
The board approved the agreement by a 4-0 vote, with Boyan, John Bendokas, Catherine Lindenbaum and Dan Woska voting in favor.
Board members Frank Pannucci and Brian DeLuca abstained from voting because they have family members who work in the district.
Jim Calabro, now in his ninth year as BTEA president, praised the board for its "amicable" and "respectful" approach toward negotiations. On the BTEA side, Calabro estimated, the new contract received about an 8-1 margin of approval.
Calabro said 51 percent of the district’s current teaching staff has only 10 years of experience or less because the ranks of younger teachers have been drained by early departures.
"This group of people needed some assistance," Calabro said.
But providing assistance –– particularly in a year with a defeated school budget –– required sacrifices by senior members of the district. Funds used to increase raises for less-experienced members of the district came from the top, Calabro said.
Another very important aspect of the approved contract, Calabro said, was that health insurance benefits went untouched.
"The teachers we have are outstanding. I’d love to make them the highest-paid teachers in the state, but the taxpayers would shoot me," Boyan said.