With a health benefits deadline looming and after almost six months of negotiations between the West Windsor-Plainsboro Education Association (WWPEA) and the WW-P school board for a new three-year teachers’ contract, an agreement appears all but assured.##M:[more]##
On May 24 the board voted 9-0 to pass the memorandum of agreement that calls for teachers to receive a 4.8 percent pay increase during the first year, followed by a 4.85 percent increase the second year, and a 4.9 percent increase the third year. A vote was expected to be held by union members on May 26, after the WW-P News went to press. The union represents nearly 850 teachers in the district.
“I expect the contract to be passed,” says Debbie DiColo, the WWPEA president. “We would not bring back something for a vote that we didn’t think would pass. I think it’s the best we could do at this point in time.”
Neatly sidestepping the divisive issue of benefits for domestic partners that derailed negotiations earlier in the month, the agreement puts the issue on hold for the first two years of the contract. “During that time many things can happen,” says board member Stan Katz, chair of the negotiating committee. “The state could mandate that we include the benefit. But it will also give the union an opportunity to poll its members to see how many would use such an item. It will also give us a chance to assess the actual economic cost to the district.”
With pay increases acceptable to both the district and the teachers’ union already in place, the issue of domestic partner benefits stopped negotiations dead. On May 4 the union issued a press release charging that the board had rejected teachers’ request for benefits for domestic, which are permitted under New Jersey state law. “The board is attempting to make domestic partner benefits a financial issue when in reality it is a fairness issue,” said DiColo in the release. “We never discriminate against students or parents based on sexual orientation. Why should the board discriminate against teachers?”
But the school district issued its own response on May 5, charging that the WWPEA was scuttling an all-but agreed upon contract over a single issue. According to the district, the extension of coverage to domestic partners would cost taxpayers an additional $6,”000 to $8,”000 in premiums per covered domestic partner.
According to DiColo, the union is not unique in seeking the extended benefits. There are currently 13 school districts in the state — as well as a number of municipalities — that extend benefits to domestic partners. The state defines a “domestic partner” as a person of the same sex to whom the employee or retiree has entered into a domestic partnership and received a New Jersey Certificate of Domestic Partnership. “We will reopen the issue for the third year of the contract,” said DiColo.
The agreement for the contract, which would run from July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2008, was faced with a definite time urgency because the contract is dependent on switching the health coverage from Cigna to the State Health Benefits Program (SHBP). “The way it works is that all unions in a district have to agree to become part of the state health plan,” says Henry Wieck, board member from Plainsboro. “You can’t just do one here and one there.”
Middle School Study. While most would agree that both WW-P middle schools — Grover Middle School and Community Middle School — are among the tops in the state, the middle school program is not without its controversies. One problem arose when the board changed the middle school schedule and imposed the LCA (Literacy in the Content Area)
In the fall of 2004 the board formed a committee to study of the entire middle school program. The committee — composed of teachers, administrators, supervisors, parents, and students — presented its recommendations on May 24.
Among the series of recommendations, tops on the list is replacing the LCA program with an academic extension period, to begin this September. “We need to help solidify our approach to curriculum and do a better job doing this across the subject areas,” says Wieck.
The report states that “the middle school program was not ruined by LCA,” but that it was just an attempt to better a program that was not meeting the needs of all students. It goes on to state that LCA “did not solve all the problems,” as some of the issues existed before the new schedule was put into place. It is important to understand, cautions the report, the “current middle school program needed to be changed.”
When the LCA program was approved in 2003 as a pilot program for a trial run in the two middle schools, it was touted as an innovative means to combine reading skills into such core subject areas as math, science, and social studies. But its usefulness was also marred by problems, including a lack of study hall time for students, the time LCA takes in the classroom and its use, some schedules that overlap, the inconsistency of support for special education students, and a lack of access to the library as well as inconsistency in curricular expectations and general accountability.
With the twin goals of providing for the intellectual development and academic achievement of all students, as well as the personal and social development of each student, the committee presented a series of recommendations, and is expected to report to the board again in a month with a series of action plans aimed at accomplishing the recommendations.
Referendum Around the Bend. With the state’s tight 1701 cap on budget surpluses, and in need of about $7 million to renovate its four oldest school buildings — High School South, Dutch Neck, Wicoff, and Maurice Hawk — the board discussed a possible December referendum for voters to decide whether the money is warranted.
While money is needed for all 10 schools, the four schools are slated for the most work.
But more money will eventually be needed for large renovations to High School South for such projects as improving music and art facilities and adding a new theater and gymnasium.
