New contracts give raises to Manhasset schools personnel

Max Zahn

The Manhasset Board of Education unanimously approved a four-year contract last Thursday with the district’s teachers union that freezes pay this year and grants annual raises of 1 percent or less for later years.

The agreement with the Manhasset Education Association came on the heels of a three-year contract the board ratified on Dec. 22 with its support staff union, the Manhasset Educational Support Personnel Association, and a four-year contract with its administrators union, the Manhasset Administrators and Supervisors Association.

“It is an honor to reach agreements with all of our school personnel that afford continued stability in our schools and the unimpeded ability to focus on student learning and growth during these turbulent times in public education,” board President Regina Rule said in a statement.

The agreement with the Manhasset Education Association will apply retroactively, stretching from July 1, 2016, to June 30, 2019. It includes no salary increase for 2016-17, a 0.75 percent increase for 2017-18, a 1 percent increase for 2018-19 and a 0.75 percent increase for 2019-20.

Edward R. Vasta, the president of the Manhasset Education Association and a media specialist at Manhasset High School, said the contract “is something I can hold my head up about and the district can, too.”

“It was well-received by membership and is definitely something in line with what’s gone on with other districts in Nassau County,” he added.

Negotiations on the faculty contract lasted one year, and involved eight teacher representatives as well as Superintendent Charles Cardillo, the deputy superintendent for business and finance, Rosemary Johnson, and legal specialists, Vasta said.

“It was a long process but very professional and very cordial,” Vasta said. “Both sides came in very realistically and said let’s plug away at the main nut on the table and that’s compensation.”

Alongside the raise, teachers will receive a 1 percent increase in their health insurance premium contribution for both 2017-18 and 2019-20, ending in a total contribution of 24 percent, according to a statement from the school district.

The three-year contract reached with the Manhasset Educational Support Personnel Association includes a 0.75 percent salary increase effective Jan. 1, 2017, and another 0.75 percent increase for the 2017-18 school year. There is no salary increase in the final year of the contract.

The four-year contract reached with the Manhasset Administrators and Supervisors Association includes a 2 percent salary increase in 2016-17, a 2 percent increase in 2017-18, a 1 percent increase in 2018-19 and a 1 percent increase in 2019-20.

The school district and its three staff unions reached these agreements months before Cardillo retires at the end of the school year.

“Given the retirement of Mr. Cardillo in June, these settled contracts enable our next superintendent to hit the ground ready to focus completely on the needs of our students,” said Carlo Prinzo, a board member.

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