Great Neck teachers accept pay freeze

John Santa

The Great Neck School District Board of Education had two priorities when it opened negotiations on a new contract with the district’s teachers union earlier this year.

“One was that we had a settlement that was fair,” Great Neck Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Thomas Dolan said. “The other one was that we had a settlement that was responsible. Obviously, fair is in relation to the teachers, who we value a great deal. Responsible is in relation to the community.”

With the ratification of the district’s new four-year contract with the Great Neck Teachers Association during a board of education meeting last week, Dolan said the sides easily reached those predetermined benchmarks.

“I’m very pleased with the result of the negotiations,” the superintendent said. “I’m very pleased that we continue to have the kind of relationship that we have with the GNTA.”

The contract, which runs retroactively from July 4, 2011 until June 30, 2015, contains incentives for teacher pay raises after a salary freeze in the first year of the deal.

Along with the other salary-related incentives the contract includes provisions for an early-retirement option for teachers along with a continuing education stipend and performance review regulations.

Great Neck Teachers Association President Nancy Chauvin did not return telephone calls seeking comment, but did express her organization’s satisfaction in regards to the contract with a statement made in a news release distributed by the school district.

“In these difficult economic times, it was certainly a challenge to balance the needs of the district and its responsibility to the community, with the needs of our members and our responsibility to them,” the statement read. “We believe that the agreement we’ve reached is fair. We are glad to be able to move forward with what we all believe is most important, the education of our students.”

Although the contract calls for a pay freeze in its first year, teachers who have reached a “frozen step” on the pay scale will receive a $2,000 one-time payment.

The first-year pay freeze in the contract marks the second time in three years that the Great Neck Teachers Association has not taken a pay raise.

“Great Neck teachers were the very first school district in Nassau County to do that,” Dolan said.

After the first year of the contract, teachers will receive a 1.25-percent pay raise each year. The four-year average for pay increases for all teachers on the pay scale over the term of the contract is nearly 1.1-percent per year.

Teachers will also now pay 20 percent of their health-care premiums beginning in the second year of the contract, which is an increase from the 15 percent they paid as par of their previous deal.

Dolan said the pay freeze in the first year was particularly beneficial for the district.

“What this does is this slows down the growth that the district had been experiencing previously,” he said.

Other financial stipulations in the contract also allow for administrators to “responsibly” plan for future budgets, the release said.

Rates for daily and hourly services offered by teachers after the school day were capped by the contract, while movement on the pay scale for graduate school work was limited to one additional step each year.

The contract also provides incentives for teachers to take an early retirement.

In the first year of the contract, teachers who announce they will retire by Jan. 27, 2012, will be paid for two sick days for every four that they have accumulated.

The district’s release said “this will aid the district immeasurably in developing the budget for (the 2012-13 school year) and will contribute to the district’s ability to continue to slow the growth of district expenses.”

Teachers can also opt to receive a payment of $1,500 for each year of service to the district in exchange for unused sick days. There will be no payment for retiring teachers in the second and third years of the contract, while teachers can receive payment for one sick day for every four they have accumulated in the final year of the deal.

Another stipulation in the contract encourages teachers to earn the National Teacher Board Certification, which the district said is “the result of considerable additional training.”

If teachers opt to receive the certification, they will receive a $1,300 stipend over the four years of the contract.

“It is the district’s hope that teachers will seek to attain this rigorous Certification,” the district release read, “as it adds considerably to their professional portfolios.”

The district and teachers union also agreed on a new provision for the state’s new annual professional performance review regulations.

Under the new agreement, any decisions involving a teacher’s performance review, unless they violate any law or the contract, can be appealed to the superintendent, who can rule on the decision.

“The district and GNTA agree that this will save both time and money on appeals of teacher ratings,” the district release said. “Both groups are confident that these evaluations will be done fairly and according to the new state regulations.”

The ratification of the new contract, avoided the possibility of a strike, which would have been the district’s first since 1938, Dolan said.

“Pretty good track record, right,” he said.

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