Union, School Board Ratify New Three-Year Contract

Following a 16-month impasse, the Moorestown Education Association (MEA) and the school board ratified a new three-year contract that represents a cumulative 6.5 percent increase from the last contract.

Both the MEA and school board met Wednesday and approved, with nearly unanimous votes, the settlement, which reflects compromises made on both sides.

According to a statement from the board, the new contract—effective July 1, 2010, through June 30, 2013—will offer first-year salary increases to newer teachers on steps one through seven of the salary guide. Teachers above step seven won’t get an increase in year one, but will receive a one-time payment of 1 percent based on salary.

Years two and three of the contract will provide increases of 2.76 percent and 1.97 percent respectively, as well as hourly increases for paraprofessionals and interpreters, according to the board’s statement, which went on to say the contract “imposes no tax increase on the community this year.”

President Don Mishler said the exact language of the contract had yet to be written.

“It is not a perfect settlement,” said MEA President Lisa Trapani, who attended Wednesday night’s . “However, it is fair, and it was ratified overwhelmingly (by the union).”

Every member of the board voted “yes” on the settlement as well, save Mishler, who had to abstain because his wife is a teacher (though not at Moorestown) and is in the same pension system as Moorestown teachers.

“I can’t tell you how much that ticks me off cause I would very much like to vote in favor of (the contract),” he said.

Board Member Linda Alexandroff, who was heavily involved in , said the board and MEA worked “tirelessly” over the holiday weekend to reach a settlement before the official start of the school year Thursday. Had they not reached an agreement, it would have been the second year in a row teachers, and other staff, began the year without a contract.

“This was so necessary, so it was a worthwhile way to spend (Labor Day weekend),” said Board Vice President Kathy Goldenberg, who explained negotiations took the form of face-to-face sessions and phone calls as both sides strove to reach an agreement. “I’m going to sleep well tonight.”

Other board members spoke of reconciliation and the need to move forward so the district could once again focus on its primary goal.

“We’re looking forward to rededicating ourselves to the process of educating our students,” said Goldenberg.

Trapani echoed those sentiments: "While we are all relieved that we are beginning school with a contract, we also lived through a difficult year last year. The MEA will move forward, always with the same goal—to provide an excellent educational experience to the students in the district."

President Mishler acknowledged it would take some work to repair the perhaps frayed relationship between the union and the board considering “a lot of the dialogue that passed between these two microphones (over the last several months) … I’ll sit down and talk to Lisa about it, and it’ll take time.”

Fortunately, he said, parts of this new contract address issues that should abate any contentiousness in future negotiations.

Under the contract, staff members will continue to pay 1.5 percent of their salary toward health care, with new employees contributing 10 to 20 percent of health care costs, the board’s statement said. In the third year of the contract, state law kicks in and employees begin contributing more (5 to 17.5 percent of premiums) to health insurance.

The roughly 500 teachers, custodial and administrative staff and other employees in the district’s six schools.

Alexandroff said the school board and the MEA have also agreed to form a subcommittee—with three members from each body and, if necessary, an external consultant for each —to analyze the salary guides. The committee will meet monthly starting in January with the goal of presenting an “optimized salary guide” by Oct. 1, 2012.

According to information provided by the New Jersey School Boards Association, settlement rates for teacher contracts statewide have steadily declined over the last six years, with the average settlement at 3.19 percent in 2011-2012 and 2.53 percent for 2012-2013.