Board cites budget constraints in limiting offer for salaries
By Eileen Oldfield Staff Writer
Manville School District teachers continue to work without a contract, after the first session with a county school board-appointed mediator failed to produce an agreement, as the teachers representatives seek higher raises than the school board is willing to offer.
Superintendent Donald Burkhardt, and negotiators for the Manville Education Association (MEA) and the Board of Education met with the mediator Monday.
Board of Education President, and Negotiations Committee Chairman Louis Petzinger reported Tuesday at the school board meeting that no progress had been made.
”He (the mediator) doesn’t feel we’ve made enough progress to move onto the next level,” said Dr. Burkhardt at the meeting.
MEA President Cathie Miskov expressed concern about the constant turnover of teachers Manville sees every year.
”We expect long, difficult negotiations, but the local is committed to changing the trend from a high turnover staff that functions as a training ground for surrounding districts,” she stated in a press release. “We care about Manville students.”
According to the MEA, 70 percent of the district’s 129 teachers have worked in Manville for less than five years. Of those teachers, 40 percent have not worked the three-year minimum needed to receive tenure in the district.
Christy Kanaby, an NJEA consultant handling the negotiations, said the board’s offer is well below the average raise given to teachers in surrounding districts.
”The Board of Education is insisting that they can only offer each teacher a total of $451 towards their salary, which is well below the average dollar of amount given to teachers in surrounding districts,” said Ms. Kanaby. “The Board of Education claims they are unable to make Manville’s salaries more competitive with surrounding districts due to budget constraints. They have allocated 11 percent of the district’s $16 million budget to administrative costs; the only costs that are subject to the spending cap.”
Because negotiation sessions are confidential, Dr. Burkhardt could not comment on the mediation session’s proceedings or on the specifics of the negotiations.
”The Manville Education Association is very anxious to get out of the revolving-door cycle,” said Ms. Kanaby.
Officials could not confirm a date for another mediation session.
A representative from the NJEA and a labor representative for the board chose the mediator jointly from a list of qualified people after the two sides failed to reach agreement on a new contract. The MEA contract expired June 30; the teachers work under the expired contract until a new one becomes effective.
This year’s contract problems follow contract mediation sessions in 2004, and a three-day teacher’s strike in 2001.
Surrounding districts, including Branchburg, Bedminster, and Hunterdon Central, had not established new teaching contracts by school’s start either.