Still no teacher contracts
By ROBERT LINNEHAN
Cherry Hill Sun
11/28/2007

Negotiations in the fact-finding stage and could take several more months to complete

Teachers and support personnel in the school district started the school year without contracts and find themselves, almost three months later, in the same position.

The Cherry Hill Education Alliance – which represents more than 900 teachers and 300 support personnel employees in the district – and the Cherry Hill Board of Education are currently in the third phase of contract negotiations, seeking to establish a new three-year deal for district employees.

District employees have been working without contracts since their previous three-year deal expired on June 30.

Employee salaries and health benefits are the two main points of disagreement between the two sides, CHEA President Martin Sharofsky said.

Despite the difficulties both sides are finding in the negotiating process, Sharofsky said it was highly unlikely that district employees would go on strike.

“Since this new format of negotiations was approved in 2003, no teachers in New Jersey have staged a strike,” he said.

Under the format, the third stage of negotiations, a fact-finding stage, was necessary when a state-appointed mediator could not bring the two sides any closer to agreeing on a new contract, Sharofsky said.

A state representative from Public Employees Relations Commission will be meeting with both the CHEA and the Cherry Hill BOE. Both sides will compile a report for the fact-finder, who will later issue his or her own report. Both parties will then have 10 days to review the report and decide whether to accept or reject the fact-finder’s recommendations. The process could take several months or more.

The district had its first fact-finding session on Nov. 12 at its regularly scheduled board of education meeting. The meeting lasted for five-and-a-half hours.

“As you can see, it’s a long process, but it’s a fair process,” Sharofsky said. “It can be frustrating at times, but it’s the new way to go about negotiations in New Jersey.”

If the two sides cannot come to an agreement from the fact-finding stage, a fourth phase will be employed with a super-conciliator using the third-stage report for continued discussions between the two sides.

The long and expensive procedure of going through the state for negotiations could easily be solved, Sharofsky said, if the board of education was willing to sit down at a table with CHEA and negotiate face-to-face.

Both sides respect the other’s opinion on the contract struggles, he said, but the board of education is more willing to leave the procedure up to the state.

“We’re ready to talk and we’re ready to discuss. The difficulty lies in the fact, I feel, with their reluctance to meet us face-to-face for negotiations. We are prepared and ready to go in and talk to them. That’s all we’re looking for,” he said.

“CHEA is ready and prepared to negotiate at any point. It’s the board of education that does not want to negotiate with us; they’re following the procedure and leaving it to the fact finder. But let’s be honest, this can be avoided by negotiating.”

Despite working without contracts since June 30, Sharofsky said the employees of the district will continue to provide the high level of education Cherry Hill students deserve, also stating that the students are the CHEA’s highest concern.

“Our major concern is the children of Cherry Hill. We have done nothing at this time that would affect the education of our students,” he said. “Our major concern is the education of our Cherry Hill students.”

Superintendent David C. Campbell would not comment on the contract negotiations, said public information officer Susan Bastnagel, but instead pointed interested readers to a statement issued on the Cherry Hill Board of Education Web site, www.cherryhill.k12.nj.us.

Throughout the duration of the negotiations, the board of education will post summaries of the negotiation sessions between the two parties.

Anne Einhorn, president of the Cherry Hill BOE, said all nine members of the board of education met on Nov. 20, in a private meeting regarding the contract negotiations.

“We are actively involved in the situation,” she said.