By Paul J. Condra
During the meeting, Sandra Way, a fourth-grade teacher who represents the Waverly Park School in the Lynbrook Teachers Association, gave a brow-raising speech to the board in which she highlighted the gravity of the situation.
As nurses, these women are among the lowest paid on Long Island. This is something that we can no longer tolerate, Way said.
Way was citing the results of an informal survey conducted by Lynbrooks nurses who sent questionnaires to nurses in 24 Nassau districts asking them about their salary contracts. The results showed that while Lynbrook nurses are among the leaders in starting pay, the top pay-level for veteran nurses is among the lowest.
We must do something about [the salaries] now, she said. We must not permit [the nurses] to fall through the cracks. They are too important to us and our children. We must do right by them.
After the meeting, nurses not normally in attendance surrounded Way to thank her for speaking out on their behalf. Indeed, Way said the nurses are scared to speak openly about the situation. And Way herself said that she has become somewhat isolated from others in the LTA as she continually brings up the issue of nurses pay at the associations meetings only to have it fall on deaf ears.
But if the urgency of Ways message was crystal clear, it wasnt so clear exactly what she expected the board to do about it. The management body signed a rollover salary contract with the LTA last spring that, once in effect next year, will last until 2005. And though board officials said they could reopen the contract, they indicated that Ways speech alone wont be enough to do it.
The issue is finished, said Phyllis Caruso, school board president. She said the contract was signed, and any problems with it should have been dealt with by the LTA before coming to an agreement.
Typically, after an internal vote on how to proceed, the LTA will negotiate salaries with the board. But the agreement reached between the two entities last June was more of a continuation of the last agreement with a few minor changes irrelevant to salary than it was a new contract.
We signed the best overall contract that we thought we could get at that time, said Tom Wolber, a science teacher at Lynbrook High school who is also president of the LTA. Still, Wolber said nurses have every right to complain about their salaries: Their pay is low, there are no ifs ands or buts.
However, nurses like Gail McCarthy of Waverly Park said they wanted full-blown negotiations. She said the LTA ignored the interests of nurses because they represent such a small fraction of the associations 260 members.
Nurses have for a longtime felt underpaid, McCarthy said, but now they also feel under-represented by their union.
We really are paid very badly, McCarthy said, adding none of the eight nurses in the district are new hires, yet their salaries make them feel like they are.
Currently, starting pay for nurses in the district is $29,000, a figure that ranks ninth out of 24 area districts recently surveyed by the nurses. However, by the same survey, Lynbrooks top-pay of $30,000 ranks 23rd of those surveyed.
We deserve a better salary, we do a lot of important things, she said. We are the only medical personnel in the building.
According to the survey, nurses in East Rockaway schools start at $26,000, which grows to $35,800 after 10 years. In Rockville Center, pay increases from $26,000 to $37,200 in 13 years. And in Hewlett-Woodmere, pay starts at $32,200 and stops at $50,000.
Way said nurses arent interested in getting rich, they just want to meet the middle levels.
Theresa Rein, a nurse in the district for eight years, said better pay is especially relevant considering the increased responsibility of nurses today as opposed to 30 years ago when she first started the work.
A lot of people think all we do is put Band-Aides on and thats it, she said.
Rein said she is the sole nurse responsible for 464 students at her school. Some of her tasks include eye and hearing tests, lice checks, allergy treatment and handling broken limbs. In addition, she is responsible for keeping up-to-date medical records, including shots and vaccinations, for each student.
She also said she provides students with something Way highlighted in her address to the board: tender loving care.
Rein said she makes less than $30,000 a year, and that each of her two childrens college tuitions are more than her yearly earnings.
I couldnt live on this salary and support a family, she said, adding her husband helps with the expenses.
Reins story and others like it is precisely why Way, who returned to Lynbrook 10 years ago after leaving the district 17 years before that, felt the issue deserved her attention.
Its an absurd amount of money, she said.
Way said the nurses survey was to be given to the school board, and, as she understood it, the board would revisit the issue after signing the rollover contract with the LTA. But that never happened, and now Way wonders if the board ever received the survey.
Superintendent William Metkiff said he knew of the survey, and was aware that, over longevity, nurses are among the lowest paid in the area. Still, he said its a done deal.
Its a contractual concern, we have already settled our contract, he said. Somebodys always not happy.
Metkiff said it is not likely the contract will be reconsidered.
Asked how that makes her feel, Way said, it upsets me greatly. She said she will continue to fight for better pay for nurses, perhaps going directly to the area representative of the New York United Teachers.
I wont let this go because this is wrong, she said.
