By Paul Wein
Other protests have taken place in the past at locations including Lawrence High School on Jan. 13, the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway High School on Feb. 2, and both the office and home of school board member Stanley Kopilow on Feb. 14 and Feb. 27. The next protest is scheduled for March 16 at Lawrence Middle School at 3 p.m.
According to Stephen Clements, president of the LTA, the reason they are protesting is to, "pressure the school board to negotiate in good faith." Clements says that having no contract sends a bad message to teachers. "Every day, I get calls from teachers asking me if they should leave," he said. "Administrators from other districts are trying to recruit our teachers, because they smell blood." He said that having no contract is making teachers seek employment elsewhere, which is stopping students from getting a proper education. "Dr. Robert Calabro left our district to work for Edgemont," said Clements. "Now, students who took his Syracuse Public Policy course cannot take it, forcing students to lose the three college credits that the course offered. So when people say that us not having a contract is not hurting kids, they're wrong."
Marge Harrison, the LTA's vice president, says that by protesting, they are doing nothing wrong. "Protesting is standard American practice," she said. "It is a very peaceful way of registering our discontent to the school board."
Dr. Mansdorf, who has stated many times since the protest in front of his office that he had no problem with the LTA picketing in front of his office, was personally hurt by the negative statements against him. "I don't have a problem with them picketing," he said. "My problem is with the signs that insult me personally." Mansdorf was specifically referring to signs that accuse him of only caring about the interests of private school children, which he says is untrue. "In my four years as a school board member, I brought two $100,000 grants from Senator Skelos to the public schools, I did not bring them to the private schools. Saying I do not care about public school students is a reprehensible statement."
The last LTA contract, which expired on July 1, contained a 12.6 percent salary increase over the length of the five-year contract, a new 28th step on the salary scale for teachers with the longest tenure, and retirement incentives.
Clements says that the protests will continue until a settlement is reached between the LTA and the school board, and that they will protest in front of all board member's homes and offices. "We plan to work our way through all the board members," he said. "We are not going to let anyone forget about this,"
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