Teachers Union, BOE Contract Dispute Drags On

Just days before Moorestown teachers’ contract expires, dozens of educators packed the Board of Education meeting Monday to push for a resolution.

Ahead of the June 30 contract expiration, teachers union members, donning red Moorestown Education Association T-shirts, delivered frustrated remarks over the inability of the school board and union to come together and reach an agreement.

“In my opinion, the Board of Education, their way of showing value is by the funds that they provide those people,” said Bridget Potts, a first-grade teacher at Mary E. Roberts Elementary School.

After adding up the expenditures and salaries of the Building and Grounds supervisor, a new superintendent and the moderator brought in to settle the dispute between the two groups she said, “That’s about a million dollars between three people that you really value. On the other end, is myself along with the 300 other teachers, … the professionals whose salaries are put in the board agenda, you can look and see how they’re not valued by your salaries.”

Potts pleaded with the board to end the discourse and return to the bargaining table.

“We’re not average. Last time I checked, we were all about excellence,” Potts said. “You are a group of highly intelligent people who are extremely committed to this district. I know it because you volunteer your time to be here, and that is appreciated. I am asking, we’ll take off the red shirts, we’ll sit cross from a table with you guys and we’ll work this out.”

Protracted contract talks are familiar to Moorestown; the last contract dispute wasn’t resolved until a year after the agreement expired.

Moorestown parents and students spoke about teachers withholding recommendation letters to seniors applying to college, as a response to the contract dispute.

“I have really not nice things to say about both sides as to what’s going on here,” said Marsia Mason, a parent and substitute teacher in the district. “Parents have complained because they are afraid that the backlash will hurt their children. When my oldest son was a rising senior, he was in the position where he was denied a letter of recommendation because of the contract snafu that was going on at that time.

“I am absolutely so disappointed that this is going on again with teachers who claim that they are here for the kids. That is not something you do to the children of Moorestown.”

A student described herself as a “bargaining chip, held hostage by someone else’s conflict.”

MEA President Lisa Trapani offered no comment on the college recommendation letter conflict, saying only, “It is time to reach a settlement. Districts all around us are settling and moving on. The economy is not what it was four years ago. It has improved significantly,” she said in an email to Patch.

“Other districts have found ways to make it work and we should be able to do the same thing here. A settled contract is better for all parties involved. The MEA has come to the table with several options and has always been willing to talk.”

A deal is unlikely before the June 30 contract expiration date, but school board President Don Mishler envisions an endpoint.

“I believe that it is highly likely that we can reach agreement before the beginning of school,” he said.