The Great Neck Board of Education voted on Monday during its regular meeting to unanimously approve a new contract with the district’s teachers union.
The membership of the Great Neck Teachers Association “approved the outline of our agreement” earlier this week, Great Neck School District Superintendent Thomas Dolan said.
“The agreement is, I believe, a fair one and a responsible one,” he said.
Dolan said he was unable to comment on the exact specifications of the contract as of press time on Wednesday.
“We’re crafting a press release that will try to capture the full picture of it rather than me trying to just pick up the highlights,” Dolan said. “These are delicate matters.”
Although the details of the contract were not made available to the public, Great Neck Board of Education President Barbara Berkowitz praised her fellow administrator’s ability to be “responsive to changing economic conditions in the community.”
She said this was one of the central objectives for the board during negotiations.
“I think that we can certainly hold our heads up high that we did that as well,” Berkowitz said.
With Great Neck Teachers Association President Nancy Chauvin in attendance at the meeting along with several of her colleagues, board of education members praised the new contract.
“We are so thrilled always to work with our teachers,” Berkowitz said. “I agree that I think that it’s very fair and it’s something that was a board goal to be working on this year. I’m very happy that we’re at this point tonight.”
Efforts to reach Chauvin for comment were unavailing.
Board members said the journey to reach an agreement wasn’t always easy.
Trustee Donald Ashkenase recalled an “emotional” board of education meeting earlier this year in which he said “we kind of were feeling that the teachers were not being described in the most favorable terms” by residents.
By ratifying the new contract, Ashkenase said he hoped those feelings were a thing of the past.
“Teachers are the foundation of this school district,” he said. “We are eternally grateful for the role that you play in the lives of our children.”
Trustee Lawrence Gross praised the working relationship the school board has with its teachers union calling it “really so exemplary.” He said this was the key to the successful negotiations.
“It so provides our students of all ages with the ability to get what they need from school,” Gross said. “The working relationship is what makes everything happen here. It is appreciated by the community.”
There was plenty of praise from the board in regards to the importance of the role teachers play within the district.
“We’re all parents and have had our children in your classrooms in the past or currently,” Trustee Susan Miner Healy said. “What you do is so important on a daily basis. You’re helping to mold the future of our community and our country and we can’t give you thanks enough.”
With negotiations now over, Board of Education Vice President Fran Langsner commended all parties involved for coming to an amicable agreement.
“We’re a district and a community that values education as a profession,” Langsner said. “We impart that to our children and I think that this agreement is further evidence of that sentiment on the part of the board and the part of the community.”
