April 22, 2015

District Negotiations To Continue With Help of State Mediator

Members of the Princeton Public Schools Board of Education (BOE) and representatives of the teacher union, Princeton Regional Education Association (PREA) met face-to-face for the third time in recent weeks last Wednesday.

In spite of positive expectations on both sides following their earlier meeting on April 9, no agreement has yet been announced. Instead, yet another session with the state-appointed mediator Kathleen Vogt has been scheduled for May 4.

“The parties remain in mediation as a legal matter, so the Board continues to adhere to the mediator’s confidentiality recommendation regarding the details of the discussions,” said School Board President Andrea Spalla.

“In addition to that agreed-upon mediation session, the Board team offered the PREA two other possible face-to-face meeting dates. We’re waiting for their response to those dates,” she said.

After the April 15 talks, union negotiator John Baxter sent the following statement to Town Topics: “Our meeting with the Board ended late Wednesday night. We thought progress had been made. The Board agreed that progress had been made, but then they insisted on bringing back the mediator on May 4. The Board could not explain why face-to-face negotiations are unsatisfactory and their decision certainly came as a shock to us given the praise they have publicly heaped upon these sessions. This is a bitter disappointment given that we made essentially no progress in our four sessions with the mediator. The Board further stated they are not available to meet prior to May 4 as we had hoped. We asked the Board to reconsider its decision.”

But according to Ms. Spalla, PREA agreed to a May 4 mediation session and it was not the sole decision of the Board to include Ms. Vogt.

Princeton’s teachers have been working under the terms of an expired contract since July 2014. The long drawn out negotiations have repeatedly foundered on the issues of health insurance contributions and salary increases.

Parents have called on both sides to compromise and have appeared before BOE monthly meetings to support the teachers. In a Letter to the Editor in this week’s Mailbox, PREA President Joanne Ryan thanks parents, students, community members, and local businesses for their support.

“The parties are making progress, although we recognize that it is happening more slowly than the community would prefer,” commented Ms. Spalla. “The Board team hopes to keep pushing forward, using the resources available to support and guide the parties.”

The BOE is also in negotiations with its other two bargaining units: PRESSA, which represents support staff, and PAA, which represents district administrators. While pointing out that those negotiations are also subject to confidentiality agreements, Ms. Spalla was able to say that the BOE team is “pleased with the progress being made in those discussions.”

The next meeting of the Board of Education will take place on Tuesday, April 28, at 8 p.m. in the John Witherspoon Middle School, 217 Walnut Lane. The agenda will include public comment as well as a vote on the 2015-16 Schools Budgets.