HVEA negotiations still under way
By John Tredrea, Staff Writer
A three-year contract with the secretaries union of the Hopewell Valley school district was approved unanimously by the school board Tuesday night.
The contract is expected to be put to a vote by the union rank and file within two weeks, school district spokeswoman JoAnn Meyer said Wednesday.
No details of the contract on pay or benefits or other areas will be released until the pact has been approved by both the board and the Hopewell Valley Secretaries Association, she said.
The contract runs through June 30, 2010. The secretaries — 31 in all — have been without a contract since July 1, 2006.
Remaining groups working without contracts include the teachers (Hopewell Valley Education Association — HVEA) and paraprofessionals unions. Negotiations on new contracts are continuing.
HVEA members have given out leaflets — “News you can use from the Hopewell Valley Education Association” — to parents and others delivering children to Timberlane Middle School on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.
”All schools have been encouraged to provide pamphlets for parents. We understand from many parents that the general public is unaware of our contract situation, so we are reaching out with some basic information about our issues. We are also encouraging staff and parents to voice their concerns to the superintendent and the board members,” Bernadette Schetler, HVEA president, said Wednesday.
Ms. Schetler listed HVEA’s basic points (also outlined in the pamphlets), as follows:
— HVEA represents almost 400 teachers who have been working without a contract since last July 1.
— The HVEA is the only teacher-inclusive local association in Mercer County still working without a new contract,
— This is the first time in more than 35 years that HVEA began the school year without a contract.
— Unresolved contracts have become a pattern for this board: two-and-a-half years to settle the network’s administrators’ contract; two-and-a-half years to settle the custodian and maintenance contract; one and a half years for the secretaries (approved Tuesday by school board) and paraprofessionals (still unsettled); and teachers and general administrators, without a contract for about seven months.
On Jan. 30, HVEA will have its fourth mediation session, “a rare occurrence,” said Ms. Schetler. On Feb. 4, a fifth “unprecedented” mediation session is scheduled.
”We are eager to resolve this issue — our teams have been meeting since January 2007. We are very concerned that the board’s position at the bargaining table will hurt Hopewell’s ability to attract and retain quality staff. More than 42 percent of the current staff has less than five years of experience in the Hopewell Valley district,” the union president noted.
”We don’t want Hopewell Valley to become a ‘revolving door’ district where we train new teachers until they find a job in a higher paying district that offers competitive health benefits. Hopewell Valley teachers pay more for health benefits than any other district in the county and we have ‘lesser quality’ choices of benefits than the other districts,” she concluded.
The leaflet itself also says, in part:
”The current bargaining crisis is bad for everyone. Hopewell Valley teachers are eager to settle a fair contract and resolve the situation. All we are asking for is a contract that is comparable with what other districts in the county offer. Unless we maintain salary and health benefits, it will be difficult for our district to attract and retain quality staff.
”On average, teachers make more money in Princeton, Trenton, and West Windsor, and they don’t pay anything toward their individual health benefits. In fact, Hopewell Valley is the only district that demands teachers pay anything toward their individual health coverage. In addition no other district requires tiering of dental or prescription benefits.”