Amy Goldstein, Owen O’Donnell, Princeton
To the editor:
The Princeton Public Schools teachers and the Princeton Board of Education are currently locked in an acrimonious battle over the teachers’ contract. The previous contract expired in June, and the teachers are working now without a contract. This happened three years ago too, during the last negotiations; teachers worked without a contract from summer 2011 to February 2012, when the contract was finally settled. Here we go again, and the fight has gotten uglier.
We live in Princeton because of its outstanding schools, which our two children have attended for the last ten years. These schools offer amazing opportunities, great kids, and, above all, dedicated and excellent teachers.
This dispute is bitter and long. These teachers feel they are being treated unfairly, and the more we learn, the more we must agree with them. The Board doesn’t really seem to be responding meaningfully to the proposals of the teachers’ union, the PREA. So we address the following to the Board.
Here is what we see. You have already lost the teachers’ morale. We fear that soon you may lose their willingness to go above and beyond, as so many Princeton teachers do every day—something that sets our school district apart. And our biggest fear is that, finally and far too soon, you will just plain start to lose them, one by one.
Please do not jeopardize the reputation of this school district—Princeton, a name synonymous with excellence in education. And please—do not jeopardize the quality of our children’s education.
Amy Goldstein
Owen O’Donnell
Princeton
