July 13, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 3 FLOW Area Education association, school board reach accord by Frank J. McMahon The Ramapo Indian Hills Regional High School Board of Education and the Ramapo Indian Hills Education Association have reached an agreement on a new three-year contract. The agreement between the school board and the association replaces the previous contract, which expired on June 30, 2010. The education association represents about 300 members, including the district’s teachers, supplemental teachers, administrative assistants, tech assistants, instructional aides, security, custodians, and maintenance and grounds employees. The agreement calls for salary increases of two percent in the first year and 2.5 percent in the second and third years of the contract, but the union agreed to freeze the special school advisor and athletic coach stipends for the term of the contract and to contain health insurance costs by eliminating the traditional indemnity health plan in favor of providing all eligible employees the option of enrolling in either of two managed health care plans that will mirror the benefits offered under the state’s School Employees Health Benefit Program. The school board estimates that change in health care plans will yield a projected savings of over $350,000 in the second year of the contract, resulting in a net budget increase for salaries of less than one half of one percent. “The board is extremely pleased that, through cooperative negotiations with the association, the parties were able to settle this contract, addressing the needs of both the board and the association,” School Board President Ira Belsky stated after the board ratified the contract agreement on June 30. “The board is confident that the terms of the successor agreement will permit the district to continue to offer outstanding educational opportunities for its students, maintain competitive salaries and benefits for its employees, and provide needed property tax relief to the taxpayers of the district,” Belsky continued. “We are pleased to have reached a final agreement with the faculty. The negotiated increases in compensation are reasonable, particularly given the substantial savings in health benefit costs that the board expects the district to realize in the near term and for many years to come.” RIHEA President Barbara Duhig and RIHEA Vice President/chief negotiator Cherylin Roeser also said they were pleased to have a contract in place for their members. “We look forward to continuing a good working relationship with the RIH BOE,” Duhig and Roeser said jointly. The RIHBOE and the RIHEA reached an impasse in their negotiations for a new contract in October, when a mediator was assigned by the New Jersey Public Employment Relations Commission in the hope of reaching a voluntary settlement. The school board’s last agreement with (continued on page 19)