In discussing the budget challenges faced by the Great Neck Board of Education at a recent public meeting, board President Barbara Berkowitz praised the working relationship between teachers and administrators in Great Neck
Berkowitz then added that the Great Neck board was dedicated to avoiding the conflict that she said has characterized relations between the Herricks school board and the Herricks teachers union.
While Herricks board members and teachers association officials did not agree with the Berkowitz’s assessment when contacted this week, they acknowledged that the two sides are not working together to come up with an estimated $3.1 in savings needed for the school district to meet the state-mandated tax cap
“Everyone’s all ears but nobody’s talking,” Herricks School Board Vice President Jim Gounaris said in response to a question about the state of relations between the board and the teachers union at last Thursday night’s school board meeting.
The school board has eliminated 49 teaching positions during the past two years due to budget constraints and the district administration has proposed a further reduction of 17 teaching positions under the 2013-14 budget to, in part, offset a 3 percent salary increase due teachers under the final year of their contract.
The 17 positions – nine positions in the high school and middle school and eight positions in the three elementary schools – would save the district $2.1 million in salaries and benefits, according to school officials. The Herricks district currently has 348 teaching positions and 3,900 students. The average teacher’s salary is $125,000 per year, according Helen Costigan, the assistant superintendent for business of the district.
Gounaris said he and board President Christine Turner took an “unprecedented” step last year in presenting eight different proposals to a seven-member teachers negotiating committee to avoid layoffs.
But ,Gounaris said, the teachers “didn’t budge” from a demand to include a two-year extension to their contract and talks broke down.
The demand for a two-year contract extension, Gounaris said, would have “tied our hands.”
Turner said she and Gounaris weren’t willing to save money in the 2012-13 budget in exchange for a two-year contract extension.
“They weren’t willing to go on one thing. We weren’t willing to bend on another thing. We have another year on the contract. And then we’ll see what happens,” Turner said.
Gournaris also suggested the teachers negotiating committee kept its membership in the dark about the negotiations.
“There are teachers in the district who said, ‘We never heard anything. What did you guys propose?’,” Gounaris said.
Jane Morales, president of the Herricks Teachers Association, said the association’s constitution does not permit the negotiating committee to discuss contract proposals with member of the teachers union until the committee approves a proposal.
“It never got out of committee,” Morales said.
She said the proposal the teachers made would have saved the district $1.5 million over the final two years of the current contract.
“We wanted some guarantee of some jobs being saved,” Morales said. “We are always ready to sit and talk.”
Relations between the two side are now further complicated by the teachers union recently filing of a grievance against the district on behalf of elementary school teachers over the loss of pay for a scheduled day of parent conferences that was used as a day to make up time lost to school closings following Hurricane Sandy.
The grievance is going to arbitration after Herricks Superintendent of Schools John Bierwirth denied the teachers’ complaint in a December hearing, according to Gounaris.
“We feel there is a grievance. We wanted the elementary teachers to have time to speak with the parents,” Morales said.
Bierwirth declined to comment on the grievance when asked about it and legal costs resulting from it at Thursday night’s meeting.
“It’s not been resolved, so I can’t comment and I can’t tell you what it will cost,” Bierwirth said.
Bierwirth also declined to comment on the relationship between the school board and the teachers union.
Morales said she thinks the relationship between the school board and the teachers is “still good.”
“To a degree, it does sound a sour note. But they’re entitled to do what’s right,” Turner said about the grievance.
She said the relationship between the school board and the teachers has been good for the past 23 years she has served on the board.
“Things that are happening now that never happened before. And that’s what I think part of the problem is,” Turner said.
But Gounaris said he questions the judgment of the current teachers union leadership.
“As far as the leadership, I have to question what the motivation is on a number of things,” he said. “You can’t see teachers being laid off every year and be oblivious to the effect it has on your working environment.”
He said he also thinks the union was in a “difficult” situation last year after the loss of Craig Lagnese, the union president who had initiated talks with the board before dying suddenly in the fall of 2011.
As budget and contract discussions progress, some cracks have appeared among the rank and file with some teachers questioning the union and others giving them their full backing.
“I don’t get a sense of the union fighting for me. I get a sense of the union fighting for itself,” said one teacher who not to be identified.
But another teacher asked for comment said relations between the school board and the teachers were on solid ground.
“We have a very supportive school board and PTA. But we work hard at that. It’s like a marriage,” the teacher said.
At Thursday night’s meeting, Gounaris drew one line in the sand, saying in the next contract, the board would hold down the cost of health insurance for retiring teachers to the state minimum.
Herricks teachers currently have 80 percent of their health insurance costs paid for by the district.
The state minimum rates would require the district to pay 50 percent of individual costs and 35 percent of family coverage costs, Bierwirth said.
