Sides talk pact

Jamesburg teachers, board in negotiations

By: Bill Greenwood
    JAMESBURG — Negotiations for a new teachers contract are nearing completion, according to a Jamesburg Education Association representative.
    Elena Strout, one of two presidents of the Jamesburg Education Association, said the only issue that still needs to be agreed upon is a salary guide.
"We could be finished this week," she said Wednesday. "It just depends on how soon we can work out the (guide)."
    Ms. Strout and Business administrator Tom Reynolds declined to provide any specific information on the contract under negotiation.
    The Board of Education was expected to discuss the proposed contract during an executive session Thursday evening, after The Cranbury Press’ mid-
afternoon deadline, according to Mr. Reynolds. No teachers or union representatives will attend the meeting because of parent-teacher conferences, according to Ms. Strout.
    Once a tentative agreement is reached, it must be ratified by both the Board of Education and the JEA.
    Until a new contract is agreed upon, teachers are working under the terms of their last contract, which went into effect July 1, 2002, and expired June 30, according to Mr. Reynolds.
    Ms. Strout said teachers are performing all of their required duties, but are not volunteering to do anything else.
    "Some extra programs for which the teachers are being paid, they are performing those," she said.
    However, she added that they would not perform any unpaid volunteer tasks until a new contract is put in place.
    The previous contract covered 59 teachers and staff members and provided for a 4.5 percent raise in the salary guide for all teachers in 2003-2004, and a 4.95 percent raise in both 2004-2005 and 2005-2006. It also maintained health benefits at the previous contract’s levels and raised starting salaries for first-year teachers with a bachelor’s degree from $33,138 in 2002-2003 to $38,652 by 2005-2006.
    A one-year retroactive deal for the 2002-2003 school year was also passed, which gave teachers a 4.5 percent salary guide increase for that year.