WEST AMWELL: South teachers get pay raises

By Linda Seida, Staff Writer
   WEST AMWELL — South Hunterdon Regional High School has a new teachers’ contract that provides pay raises of more than 9 percent over the agreement’s three years.
   The Board of Education “would have liked our teachers to agree to a freeze as some of our administrators and bus drivers did,” board member Laurie Weinstein, chairwoman of the negotiations team, said in a written statement released by the district.
   Despite wanting a salary freeze, the board did not continue to pursue it because that course of action would have incurred more attorney fees, as well as additional fees for a state-appointed fact finder who aided the negotiation process, she said.
   Contract talks began in 2009, but deadlocked over the issue of salary freezes, according to the district. The fact finder entered the negotiations when talks stalled.
   The contract is retroactive to July 1, 2009, with a 3.25 percent increase for 2009-10. A 2.85 percent raise will be given for 2010-11, with another 3 percent in 2011-12. The contract expires June 30, 2012.
   Teachers are required to contribute 1.5 percent of their salaries toward the cost of health insurance benefits as required by the state. According to the district, the giveback began May 22, 2010.
   The district said the giveback offsets the pay increase.
   ”When you take the new health benefits giveback into account, at least one of the raises in this new contract represents a historic low for our school district,” said board President Robert Campbell, who also serves on the negotiations team.
   ”The health benefits giveback is brand new to our teachers. From their perspective, this year they are getting a 2.85 percent raise on paper, but when you consider the giveback, it’s really only 1.35 percent in their pockets.”
   In March 2009, bus drivers voluntarily gave up their contracted 4-percent pay increase to save the district about $10,000. Some drivers also serve West Amwell Elementary, and their decision saved the elementary district about $7,000.
   Around the same time, South Hunterdon Superintendent Nancy Gartenberg requested a contract renegotiation that froze her $139,241 salary. She had been contracted to receive a 4 percent increase in 2009-10, under a contract that ran through 2011. According to the terms of her renegotiated contract, she is slated to receive a 4 percent raise in 2010-11 and 2011-12, and a 3 percent raise the following year, which is the final year of the contract.
   James Bevere and Michael Godown, former principal and assistant principal respectively, and Business Administrator Kerry Sevilis also voluntarily froze their salaries at that time. Salary increases for these positions are dependent on the board.
   At the time, the district said administrators saved the district about $17,000.