MAPLEWOOD/SOUTH ORANGE — The Board of Education passed a resolution July 28 ratifying its agreement with the South Orange Maplewood Education Association, creating a two-year contract for 2013 through 2015.
After more than a year of negotiating that left teachers without a contract during the past school year, the board passed Resolution No. 3165, which ratifies the two-year contract between the district and the teachers union. The contract runs from July 1, 2013, through June 30, 2015, and provides a retroactive 4.25 percent salary increase for teachers over the two-year period.
The board voted to ratify the contract 7-0, with board member Madhu Pai being marked absent and board member Johanna Wright abstaining, as she is a former member of SOMEA and her daughter is a current member.
“On behalf of the board, I would like to thank the SOMEA negotiating committee for its cooperation in working with us to reach an agreement that is mutually acceptable to both parties,” First Vice President Sandra Karriem, Negotiations Committee chairwoman, said at the BOE meeting.
The SOMEA ratified the contract on June 25, so the matter is now closed and the union and district can begin discussing the next contract, according to Karriem.
“Thank you to all of the SOMEA members who attended last night’s Board of Education meeting,” Paula Bethea and Hannah Edelman, SOMEA’s president and vice president, respectively, wrote on the SOMEA Facebook page July 30. “For those who did not attend, please know that the BOE did ratify the agreement. Since both sides have ratified, we are officially settled.”
Wright asked the board to postpone the vote as she felt they should take a closer look at Line Item 2710 in the budget, which reports teacher salaries, as she found it to be inflated with nonsalary costs, such as desks and supplies. Wright said she wants the county superintendent to look over the district’s budget.
According to Wright, because of this salary inflation, when the district reports its budget to the state, it appears that South Orange-Maplewood teachers are among the highest paid in the state although they, in fact, are not.
According to Second Vice President Bill Gaudelli, an external CPA audits the district each year and in his latest review described the district’s books as “stellar.”
“All line items were in accordance under state guidelines,” Gaudelli said, adding that this salary inflation should not keep the board from moving forward with the contract ratification.
President Beth Daugherty explained that, when negotiating with SOMEA, rather than using Line Item 2710, the district uses a scattergram, which is a snapshot of where every employee is on the salary guide. The scattergram is approved by both sides in the negotiation.
The board proceeded with the vote.
In its Facebook post, the SOMEA leadership told teachers that, although a scattergram was used for negotiations, SOMEA is concerned by Wright’s statements at the July 28 board meeting.
“We are concerned by the information questioned last night and are investigating why the board is inflating salary numbers to the state,” Bethea and Edelman wrote.
