FLOW Area August 10, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 5 Trustees, FLEA reach tentative contract agreement by Frank J. McMahon The Franklin Lakes Board of Education and the Franklin Lakes Education Association have announced a tentative agreement on a new contract that would cover the 2011-12 through 2013-14 school years. FLEA represents the teachers, instructional aides, secretaries, and other non-managerial employees in the school district. No details of the new agreement have been released, pending the ratification of the comprehensive agreement by both the board of education and the education association when school resumes in September. “The parties are pleased that, through their cooperative negotiations, they were able to reach a tentative agreement prior to the beginning of the 2011-12 school year,” Superintendent Frank Romano stated in a press release concerning the new agreement. “The parties are confident that the terms of the proposed agreement will permit the district to continue to offer outstanding educational opportunities for its students and maintain competitive salaries and benefits for its employees within the constraints of these challenging economic times.” In October 2010, the school board and the education association agreed on a two-year contract for the period from July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2011. That contract provided for a 3.5 percent salary increase in both of those school years. Although the previous contract between the school board and the association expired on June 30, 2009, negotiations for a new contract had been ongoing since January of that year. In February 2010, a hearing before a fact-finder was intended to permit the board and the teacher’s association to submit their final offers with any evidence demonstrating the fairness of their respective positions. The informal meeting of the board of education and the FLEA with the fact-finder produced no results in bringing the two sides together in their negotiations. An agreement was reached at a mutually scheduled meeting during the summer of 2010, not as a result of the efforts of fact-finders or mediators. In that agreement, the school district was able to change its health insurance plans to the state’s School Employees Health Benefits Program. Romano pointed out at the time that the savings produced through the change in health insurance plans, together with the employees’ state-mandated obligation to contribute 1.5 percent of their annual base salaries towards the cost of health insurance coverage, enabled the school board to provide salary increases of 3.5 percent in both years of the agreement. In addition to the salary increase in that previous contract, the two parties reached an agreement on scheduling issues, tuition reimbursement, planning periods, and student supervision. When that contract agreement was announced, School Board President Kathie Schwartz explained the 3.5 percent salary increase in that contract by pointing to the extensive time frame upon which that contract was negotiated and the fact that the contract was determined by the economic conditions of the previous three years. She said at the time that FLEA was seeking increases well over the final settlement of 3.5 percent and, during the time of the negotiations, the state imposed the mandatory health care contribution, so the contract settlement effectively provided for only a two percent increase in take home pay. The Franklin Lakes Seniors will travel to the Westchester Broadway Theater on Aug. 25 to see the musical comedy, “Altar Boyz.” Tickets are $57 for members and $62 for non-members. The bus will depart at 9:45 a.m. from the Franklin Lakes Recreation Field. A day trip to the Delaware Water Gap is planned for Sept. 29. The trip includes a one-hour trolley tour with a discussion about Native Americans and early settlers, lunch at the Stroudsmoor Country Inn, and “Postmortem,” a show that will be presented at the Shawnee Playhouse. The cost is $57 for members and $62 for non-members. The bus will leave from the Franklin Lakes Recreation Field at 8 a.m. On Oct. 26, the seniors will travel to the August Wilson Theater in New York City to see “Jersey Boys.” Tickets are $70 for members and $75 for non-members. A box lunch is included. The bus will leave from Franklin Lakes Recreation Field at 11:45 a.m. Call Marilyn at (201) 891-1513 or Madeleine at (20l) 891-4570. Seniors plan events