Hewlett-Woodmere approves new teacher contract

After 17 months of negotiations, the Hewlett-Woodmere School District and the Hewlett-Woodmere Faculty Association have reached a new agreement on teacher compensation. Teachers in the district have been working under an expired contract since last June 30.
“The contract was overwhelmingly ratified by teachers at a meeting held on June 2,” said Ric Stark, president of the faculty association. “Having a contract in place means that Hewlett-Woodmere will be able to remain a very attractive place for students to learn and teachers to teach and work.”
The four-year contract is retroactive to the beginning of the current school year. For 2013-14 its uses the same salary increase scale, based on years of service and graduate credits, that was in place for 2011-12. Then, from 2014-15 through 2016-17, salaries will increase .5 percent per year. This will enable the district to keep salary costs within what district officials believe is a sustainable range under the state tax levy cap.
Hewlett-Woodmere teacher salaries range from a starting salary of about $60,000 to a maximum of about $140,000 for a teacher with 30 years of experience and a doctoral degree, according to Stark. As they have for the past 20 years, district teachers will pay for a portion of their benefits, including health care.
“Throughout this contract, teachers will pay 20 percent of the premium of our medical insurance,” Stark said. “The actual dollar cost to both teachers and the district will depend on the premiums themselves, which are set annually by the New York State Department of Civil Service.”

In prior years, the teachers have paid, on average, 20 percent of their insurance premiums. Throughout Nassau County, teachers pay, on average, an estimated 15 to 17 percent.
Board of Education trustees voted unanimously, 7-0, to approve the contract at their June 18 meeting, and it will take effect July 1.
“Our goal in all of the education and financial decisions we make is sustainability,” said Scott McInnes, Hewlett-Woodmere’s school board president. “This new teachers’ contract provides stability and the ability to do the long-range planning necessary to continue to benefit the entire Hewlett-Woodmere Public Schools community.”
There was little rancor from either side during contract negotiations, according to Dr. Peter Weber, the district’s assistant superintendent of business said that, “During negotiations our educational programs continued without any disruption,” he said.
The only sign of protest by the 280-member faculty association was the wearing of red every Tuesday as a symbol of solidarity. Teachers also wore buttons that read, “Working without a contract.”
There were two main reasons for the lengthy negotiating process, Stark said. “One reason was that the tax cap law made it difficult to come up with a salary arrangement acceptable to both sides [that] would still fit within the cap,” he explained. “The other was that we used a mediator from the Public [Employment] Relations Board for several sessions. His schedule was hectic. We had to book him several months in advance.”
McInnes, who was elected to his second three-year term on the school board last month, said he is glad the district can put the contract negotiations behind it and concentrate on what goes on in its classrooms. “I’m happy that we can all move forward and focus on the district’s mission of educating our students,” he said.

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