Contract talks continue
By JENNIFER KELLEY
Cherry Hill Sun
9/13/2007

Teachers, Board of Education enter third phase of negotiations over new, three-year contract

The district’s teachers and their support personnel began a new school year last week without a contract, as a settlement has yet to be reached in what has turned out to be a lengthy negotiation process.

The Cherry Hill Education Association and the district’s Board of Education are preparing to embark on the third phase of contract negotiations, which seek to establish a new three-year contract for teachers and support-staff members. The last three-year contract – reached with a mediator in 2004 – ended in June. However, face-to-face sessions between the two groups and several meetings with a state-appointed mediator have not yielded any progress this year, officials said.

The next step, district officials said, is called “fact-finding,” which also requires work with a neutral third-party mediator. Both sides will compile a report for the soon-to-be-appointed fact-finder, who later will issue his or her own report. According to New Jersey Education Association spokesman Steven Baker, 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.

Due to a state law passed in 2003, it is very unlikely that the CHEA – which represents more than 900 teachers and 300 support staffers – will strike, he told The Sun. The law lays out a mandatory multi-step contract negotiation process, “which has always led to a settlement at some point or another since its passage through a collective bargaining process.”

Sticking points that neither side can agree on are salaries and health benefits.

“The (BOE) must come to the table with an offer that’s in line with other districts in the county and other recent settlements,” Baker said.

CHEA President Martin Sharofsky agreed.

“We want a contract that is comparable to what other Camden County or similar school districts have gotten – and they’re not offering us that. But, we’re all trying to work to meet somewhere in the middle,” he said, noting that one of the things that makes the district so great is the people that work in it, “who are committed to excellence in student achievement.”

The CHEA wants these teachers to stay in the district, he added.

“Teaching is a very competitive field. Graduates with higher degrees have a choice of where they go, and we have to stay competitive with other area districts so that they want to come here. Cherry Hill has a well-known reputation for its quality education – that’s why people move here. Good teachers and their support personnel are a vital part of maintaining that reputation, and we don’t want to start losing them to more competitive districts.”

BOE president Anne Einhorn referred to a posting on the district’s Web site that notes that the board looks forward to a resolution of the contract dispute.

Sharofsky said he and the CHEA’s 10 other members are all working toward the same goal.

Baker contended there was no animosity between the two parties, but that the protracted negotiation process was taking its toll on many teachers and support-staff personnel.

“As it stands now, they’re facing this year’s bills on last year’s salary,” he said. “It also weakens morale, as many feel frustrated that it appears board members are not being respectful of all the work they do and the continuous success of this district.”

At the end of the process, however, both sides want to walk out and say that they’re in this together, Sharofsky noted. “We all care about the kids, and we all want Cherry Hill to have the best school district there is.”