By Frank Mustac, Contributor
Supporters of the Hopewell Valley Education Support Professionals Association (HVESPA) came out in numbers to the Board of Education meeting on Monday, urging the completion of contract negotiations between the collecting bargaining unit and the school board., The HVESPA is made up of secretaries, paraprofessionals, custodial staff and maintenance personnel., “We did have a lot of people show up,” Lisa Wolff, the school board president, said via telephone on Tuesday. “Basically what I said is that I’m committed and the board is committed to getting the contract settled.”, At a previous board of education meeting, Ms. Wolff spoke about the contract negotiations with the HVESPA., “The board has five collective bargaining units that we work with, and four out of the five are currently closed,” she said on Jan. 9. “But try as we may, we were unable to get the fifth one closed. We were really hoping to get it done before Christmas.”, District officials said contract negotiations with the HVESPA have been ongoing for about a year, with hopes of getting the matter addressed in a much more timely fashion., “It’s very important to everyone on the board that we would really like to see this contract closed. I am pledging to the public that we are going to work as hard as we can to see that it gets closed,” the board president said., School employees who belong to the HVESPA are currently working under the conditions of their last contract., Ms. Wolff said that school board representatives will be attending a “third mediation session on Feb. 7” with HVESPA representatives., Copies of the four contracts that have already been settled for the Hopewell Valley Education Association; the Administrators and Supervisors Association (HVASA); the Directors and Supervisors Association (HVDSA); and the Network Administrators Association (HVNAA) are available to the public., “Our board prides itself on being fair,” Ms. Wolff said. “All of us appreciate the work that our support staff does.”, At the Jan. 23 board of education meeting, heads of several bargaining units came out to speak before the board members., Woody Carsky-Wilson, of Hopewell Borough, named some of the support staff members he knows and chronicled several of their accomplishments., “Reward them according to their contributions, which are considerable,” he said. “We can sit down at a table, find a compromise, shake hands and move on. That kind of cooperation makes Hopewell Valley a great place to live.”
