New contracts for East Meadow teachers, administrators

Members of the bargaining units representing teachers, school-related personnel and administrators ratified new two-year contracts with the East Meadow School District.
   
The East Meadow Teachers Association, which represents teachers and school-related personnel — nurses, teaching assistants and library paraprofessionals — and the East Meadow Supervisory and Administrative Association held membership ratification votes on Friday and Monday, respectively.
   
The contracts still require the approval of the Board of Education, which is scheduled to hold a ratification vote at its Communications Meeting on April 22.
   
The current EMTA and EMSAA contracts will expire on Aug. 31. The new contracts cover the period from Sept. 1, 2010, through Aug. 31, 2012.
   
It took three years of heated negotiations for the district and the EMTA to agree to the current six-year contract in 2007. (The previous contract expired in 2004.)
   
This negotiation period was much different, with district and EMTA leadership agreeing on a deal four months before the current contract is set to expire and a month before the school budget vote on May 18.
   
School Superintendent Louis DeAngelo said that all parties agreed to focus on salary increases and to de-emphasize other contractual provisions like benefits, working hours, free periods and the like. DeAngelo described the approach as “creative” in the interest of both parties.
   
The two-year salary schedule for teachers and school-related personnel includes a 1.8 percent increase in the first semester of 2010-11 and a 0.8 percent increase for the second semester. In 2011-2012, EMTA members will receive a 1.9 percent increase based on the teacher’s average salary in the previous year.
   
The raises are significantly smaller than those in the expiring contract, which had consistent yearly increases of around 3.5 percent.