By Hector Flores
The contract, which must be renewed in 2010, gives teachers a 3.25 percent pay increase for the current school year, a 3.35 percent increase in 2008-09 and a 3.4 percent hike in 2009-10. Teachers will also receive retroactive pay increases of 3.5 percent for 2005-06 and 3.4 percent for 2006-07. Teachers who retired in 2004-05 will receive a 3 percent retroactive increase for that year.
The teachers¹ union also agreed to pay 17 percent of the cost of its health insurance for the 2005-06 school year, 18 percent for 2006-07, 19 percent this year and 20 percent in 2008-09 and thereafter. Retirees and those with seven years or more service to the district will contribute 15 percent of their health insurance costs, retroactive to 2005-06. (Under the terms of the expired contract, all teachers contributed 15 percent of those costs.)
Superintendent Leon Campo was pleased that the teachers finally accepted the contract. ³[Union President] John Gallagher called me last night and told me that the teachers had approved the contract,² Campo said in a phone interview on Sept. 7.
Deborah Coates, president of the East Meadow Board of Education added, ³For the taxpayers of East Meadow, these two employment agreements represent a fair compromise. It is our collective hope that with these settlements, taxes will be kept at a reasonable and acceptable level.²
Campo explained that the district had presented its terms to the union leadership during the last week of June. The union scheduled a meeting to discuss the proposition on Sept. 4, and two days later voted to accept it. ³We are very happy that we have a contract that we believe is in the best interest of our staff and taxpayers,² Campo said. ³It was unfortunate that it took so long to come into an agreement ... As superintendent, I look forward to working with the teachers association and making this school year one of the best for our children.²
Gallagher expressed relief that the ordeal was over. ³The teachers wish that it hadn¹t taken this long, and they¹re just happy that it¹s finally over,² he said.
Gallagher would not elaborate on the union¹s points of contention with the district, but Campo said that the final agreement was probably due to the realization that this contract was the best that could be achieved.
East Meadow and Salisbury parents may have been most delighted about the news. ³I think its a really good thing,² said Marilou Owens, a parent with children in Parkway Elementary. ³I think it is really nice for all of us to finally see the teachers happy. The first week of school was great because they were.²
Owens added that she has also noticed a change in the mood of the teachers, which parents wanted to see for a long time. ³Parents are ecstatic, and it¹s great for the kids because now there is no more animosity,² she said.
Owens added that teachers are not wearing black anymore, which was a sign of their discontent with the district for working without a new contract for the past three years. ³Now that there is something in place, I hope that this doesn¹t happen again,² she said. ³... We just want everything to go back to normal. I just want East Meadow to be a community with the best education and a place where parents, teachers and administrators work together to provide the best education for its children.²
Comments about this story? HFlores@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 283.
