June 12, 2013 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • Page 21 Board approves three-year contract (continued from page 5) who are at the top of the guide – our most experienced staff members,” DeYoung continued. “The increment load for next years as the contract expires is 2.37 percent. In other words, if no new dollars were added to the guide, and no raise was given to our most experienced teachers, then the added cost next year would be 2.37 percent. So what the new settlement does is increase that by about a half of a Officers installed The Woman’s Club of Ramsey 2013-14 officers are Virginia Naugler, secretary; Paula Bartow, federation secretary; Kathy Mucignat, vice president; Dolores deVinck, treasurer; Karen Mammeback, Ramapo District vice president, installing officer; and Marge Detweiler, club president. The club’s annual installation ceremony was held at the Masonic Lodge in Ramsey. (Photo courtesy of Jade Gunver.) percent…(W)hen people hear that the teachers got a 2.88 percent raise, they get the idea that all teachers, including those at the top of the guide, are getting 2.88 percent more than they got this year. That is not the case. Although it is true that the total cost of salaries for all staff members has increased by that amount, those at the top of the guide and those from the bottom to the middle of the guide, get much lower raises. For instance, in the first year of the new contract, 119 staff members (42 percent) will receive a raise that is one percent less and, by the third year of the contract (2015-16), that number rises to 155 (55 percent). Now I am a senior citizen on Social Security, and the (cost of living) raise for this year was 1.7 percent. Therefore, the majority of our staff members did not even receive a COL equivalent raise for these three years. For our most senior and highest paid teachers the raises for the three years come out to 0.935 percent, 0.855 percent, and 0.683 percent. “In summary, this represents the lowest three-year agreement agreed upon by the board in the teachers in modern times – and, it will have no trouble fitting into the budget with the current cap structure.” Asked to comment on his vote, Muti said, “My problem with the contract is that it gives aggregate salary increases far in excess of what the Bergen County averages are for recently approved teacher contracts, without getting any cost-saving concessions from the union. “To give you a point of comparison, the Tenafly School District, arguably one of the best in the entire state, gave its teachers 2.3 percent in 2012-13, 2.4 percent in 2013-14, and 2.7 percent in 2014-15, while getting significant concessions. (They had already come off the expensive health insurance plan years ago.) Ramsey’s raises for those same years: 4.6 percent (part of last contract), 2.9 percent, 2.9 percent. “I understand the board’s motivation. They want labor peace. So do I, and I was willing to pay a premium to get it. But this new contract goes too far, at a time when many of our residents are still feeling the effects of this great recession. “This school board has to learn how to say ‘no.’ I thought we had accomplished that in the past year, but, evidently, we have not. When we lose state aid next year and the years after, as we will undoubtedly will, the chickens this board let loose will come home to roost.”