Page 6 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • October 12, 2011 Mahwah Board, education association move to fact-finding stage by Frank J. McMahon Unable to reach an agreement on a new contract, the Mahwah Board of Education and the Mahwah Education Association will now proceed to a formal fact-finding meeting scheduled for Dec. 15. The new contract will cover those represented by the MEA, including the district’s teachers, secretaries, custodians, maintenance staff, bus drivers, and school aides. The fact finder, who will be assigned by the state’s Public Employee Relations Commission, will review the facts presented by both sides and make a non-binding recommendation. At a recent school board meeting, Charles “Chuck” Saldarini, the board’s first vice president and chairman of the Negotiating Committee, reported that another meeting of the two negotiating teams was held Sept. 27. He said it was supposed to have been the first fact-finding meeting, but the MEA requested another mediation meeting instead. Saldarini advised the board, however, that the two sides are still no closer to an agreement following that meeting. Laura Beattie, president of the MEA, claims, however, that her negotiating team did not choose to postpone the fact-finding hearing on Sept. 27, but decided to use the meeting for mediation instead of fact-finding because they were not able to obtain certain information that was needed to allow the MEA to work with the New Jersey Education Association to prepare for the meeting. She said that information included budget and insurance information and costs, and information about what monies the district would be receiving from her members’ contributions to their health benefits. Beattie confirmed that a formal fact-finding hearing is scheduled for Dec. 15 and the primary issues in the dispute are salary, benefits, and time. But she pointed out that recent state legislation mandates an increasing contribution from public workers toward health benefits over the next four years, which leaves salary and time as the major issues. “We believe in our school district and in the dedicated professionals who come to work here every day,” Beattie said. She emphasized that her members are continuing to “go above and beyond” in and out of the classroom in many activities, including those taken on by staff members as volunteers, and they will continue to give back to the school district and the community in the hope that a fair agreement will be reached in the near future. Saldarini declined to comment further about the Sept. 27 meeting or the primary issues. According to Beattie, the last contract between the school board and the MEA was agreed to in June 2009 for the 2009-10 school year. It was a one-year contract that expired on June 30, 2010. That contract provided for Tom Dunn will present the history of housing development in the Mahwah on Wednesday, Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. at the Mahwah Public Library. “Mahwah and Mount Laurel: The Growth of Housing in Mahwah 1900-2000” will cover the controversial 1983 Supreme Court of New Jersey’s Mount Laurel decision about municipal requirements for affordable housing. Dunn to discuss ‘Mahwah and Mount Laurel’ Mahwah was one of the defendants in that case. The decision and its aftermath caused Mahwah to grow from a suburban community to the “Edge City” it is today. Dunn, of the Mahwah Museum, is the chronicler of Cragmere and a long-time resident of Mahwah. This program is free. Seats will be available “first come” basis. The library is located at 100 Ridge Road. a 4.3 percent increase of total salaries for MEA members and a one-time savings in health care benefits of over $1.2 million as a result of the MEA’s agreement to change its health insurance coverage from Horizon Blue Cross/Blue Shield to the state’s School Employees Health Benefits Plan. The savings from the change in health care plans enabled the school district to return all 39 full time paraprofessional staff to full time positions. Prior to the health care change, those positions were planned for conversion to part-time positions, which are ineligible for health care benefits. At the time that agreement expired, the MEA members began paying 1.5 percent of their salaries toward their health care benefits as a result of new state legislation. The previous multi-year contract expired on June 30, 2009 and the school board and the MEA negotiating teams have been meeting and discussing opposing proposals for a long-term contract since then. In March 2010, the MEA declared that an impasse had been reached and a mediator was assigned to the negotiations by PERC. Two mediation sessions were held, one on June 16, 2010 and another on Aug. 18, 2010 but, at the mediator’s recommendation, the negotiations moved to the factfinding stage, and a fact finder/mediator was assigned in October 2010. Due to a backlog of cases and scheduling conflicts, the next meeting was not held until March 14, 2011 and another was held on May 12, 2011, both of which were conducted as more aggressive mediation sessions, but no agreement was reached. The fact finder then called for a formal fact-finding hearing which was scheduled for Sept. 27, 2011.