FLOW Area May 25, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 5 School district, RIHEA reach contract agreement by Frank J. McMahon The Ramapo Indian Hills Board of Education and the Ramapo Indian Hills Education Association have reached an agreement on a new contract to replace the three-year agreement that expired on June 30, 2010. Ira Belsky, president of the school board, announced the agreement at last week’s public meeting. Belsky said the agreement is subject to the ratification by the members of the RIHEA, which is expected within 30 days. The board will then ratify the agreement. “I’m looking forward to finalizing it,” Belsky said. The RIHEA represents the full- and part-time teachers and supplemental teachers, administrative assistants, technical assistants, and special education teaching assistants whose contract expired on June 30, and the custodial, maintenance, grounds, and security staff whose contract expired at that same time. Barbara Duhig, president of the RIHEA, explained in October that all these groups have always been represented by the RIHEA, which has more than 300 members, but previously there were two separate contracts for bargaining purposes and now there is one bargaining unit with one negotiations team. Duhig advised that the new agreement is currently in the hands of the mediator, although no details about the agreement will be released until it is ratified by the RIHEA. She said that should happen before the end of the school year. The board and the RIHEA reached an impasse in their negotiations for a new contract last October. Superintendent Lauren Schoen announced the impasse and advised that a mediator had been assigned by the state’s Public Employment Relations Commission in hopes of reaching a voluntary settlement. The school board’s last agreement with the RIHEA occurred in July 2007, when they agreed to two contracts for the district employees represented by the association. One of the contracts covered the 2006-07 school year, and a new three-year contract covered the 2007-08, 2008-09, and 2009-10 Mayer’s Karate and Fitness is offering a free summer program for all area children between the ages of 4 and 14 at its North Haledon location. Mayer’s will try to accommodate as many children as possible on a first-come, first-served basis. The program is flexible as far as days and times, depending on the age of the participant. Please call Mayer’s for the schedule and registration. Mayer’s Karate and Fitness is the area’s leader in martial arts, cardio-kickboxing and personal training. Mark Mayer, the school director, has been training and teaching the martial arts for over 30 years and holds a seventh degree Black Belt. Mayer instructs daily in his karate and fitness facility and conducts programs in corporations and schools as well. Registration is required for this free program, and classes are now forming. Please reserve your child’s place early, since space is limited. Mayer’s Karate & Fitness is located in the High Mountain Plaza Shopping Center at 5 Sicomac Road, North Haledon (just 2 miles from the Franklin Lakes Market Basket). Call (973) 238-8600 for information. www.mayerskarateandfitness.com Free Karate program offered this summer school years through June 30, 2010. In the one-year contract, the RIHEA received a 4.4 percent salary increase and the three-year contract included salary increases of 4.42 percent for 2007-08, 4.43 percent for 2008-09, and 4.44 percent for 2009-10. Those increases were inclusive of increments in the salary guides for RIHEA members, which have been mutually agreed upon by the RIHEA and the board. The salary guide for 2010-11 will be established when the new contract is ratified. The 2009-10 salary guide called for a starting salary of $46,419 for a beginning teacher with a bachelor’s degree. After 16 years, that teacher would earn $68,275 with the potential of reaching the top salary of $81,724. Those salary levels rise further when the teacher attains higher educational degrees to a potential maximum of $99,866 after 17 years with a master’s degree plus 30 credits plus $1,871 for a doctoral degree. Under the previous contract, enrollment in the district’s traditional health insurance plan, which requires no primary care physician and pays benefits at 80 percent of approved claims, was frozen, although all current employees in that health plan remained in it until they voluntarily chose to change plans, resigned, or retired from the district. That contract also increased deductibles in the traditional health plan from $100 individual/$200 family to $200 individual/$400 family. Beginning July 1, 2007, all new employees covered by the RIHEA (continued on page 21) Create Your Secret Garden �������������������� ������������������������ ���������� 3RD ���� ANNUAL presents... 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