By HANNAH WALLACH
Business Manager
Teachers may have cause to retire their red union T-shirts following the Sept. 18 meetingĀ at which the Board of Education and Monmouth County Vocational Education Association ratified the 2011-2014 teacher contract.
The ratification states that MCVSD teachers and secretaries can now expect increases in their salaries as well as a change in their step guides (how teachers advance with each year of experience), according to Leah Morgan, union representative and biology teacher.
The settlement ends a 15-month stalemate between the two sides. The last contract expired in June 2011.Ā Negotiations were extended because of new health care and pension legislation that placed “a 2 percent cap on all school and municipal budget increases” and because both parties took advantage of Mediation and Fact Finding, explained Superintendent Tim McCorkell.
Teachers held demonstrations outside of school to raise awareness. Union members wore red T-Shirts on Fridays during the 2011-2012 school year, āto show our solidarity,ā said physics teacher Steve Godkin, a former union representative.
āOn Fridays, we followed the letter of the contract. The contract said workdays started at 7:20 a.m., so we followed that to the letter ā¦ the contract also says the day ends at 2:30 p.m., so we followed that, too,ā Godkin said.
āIt becomes very easy, when weāre not in the room, to treat us like weāre numbers,ā he added, explaining why the union members chose to demonstrate. āWeāre not numbers, weāre people.ā
English teacher Robert Sherman said he also feels passionately about the issue. Despite raises for faculty on the horizon, he said, āOur bombastic governor has instituted some changes where teachers now have to contribute more to their insurance as well as to their pension funds so that any money received as a raise will be overshadowed by these increased contributions. In essence, our salaries will remain stagnant while the cost of living will increase.ā
New Jersey schools continually rank highly in education, as inĀ Newsweekās āAmericaās Best High Schools 2011,ā where High Technology High School had the highest average SAT scores nationwide. Bergen County Academies placed second. Additionally, U.S. News ranked New Jerseyās Princeton University the second best national university for the 2012-2013 school year.
Communications placed second among the state’s vocational-technical schools in a recent ranking by “New Jersey Monthly” magazine.
Nonetheless, Governor Chris Christie cut $1 billion in education funding in 2010, according to published reports inĀ The Star Ledger.
ā[Christie] attacked New Jersey teachers, denigrated the profession, and belittled the people who teach,ā Sherman said.
Regardless of Christie’s latest reforms, teachers here remain passionate about their work.
āBy nature, teachers go above and beyond. We donāt want to be taken for granted,ā Morgan said.
Technology teacher and member of the MCVEA Executive Committee Maryanne Rodriguez agreed.
āTeachers work very hard and have been maligned,ā Rodriguez said.
Sherman said that the issue concerns not only the unfair compensation for hard work, but also the deprecation of the profession itself.
āIāve been teaching for 12 years. I canāt tell you the number of students Iāve had come through my classroom to whom Iāve said, āYouād make a wonderful teacherā [and] received the reply, āThatās always been something I would love to do, but, you know, you guys donāt make too much money,āā Sherman said. āTeaching should be a profession paid on par with other similarly educated professions.ā
Sherman said he also has concerns as the father of two kindergarteners.
āAs my kids are just starting… that makes me sad. Iād like to see them taught by talented individuals ā that wonāt be likely if Christie is going to continue along with his policies,ā Sherman said.
Sherman, who also participated in last yearās demonstrations, said he fears that New Jersey education is āheading south.ā
āTwenty years from now, if the state continues on the road [Christie] wants to set out on, New Jersey will no longer rank in the top three nationally in education. It will fall, and people will wonder, āHow did we get here?āā Sherman said. āTheyāll be able to point the finger at our governor, and heāll be to blame.ā
According to Rodriguez, negotiations for the 2014-2017 contract will begin December 2013.
While further negotiations are over a year away, Morgan said the goalĀ amongĀ teachers will likely stay the same.
āIt goes along the lines of, āWhy buy a cow if the milk is free?ā We desire recognition,ā Morgan said.