Message To Teachers

Thursday, 22 April 2010 10:43

The school board election that takes place out here in District Number 15 on May 11 is a funny kind of political contest. One of the odd things about it is that though it is a vital community election, with the district encompassing Atlantic Beach, Inwood, Lawrence, Cedarhurst, and parts of Woodmere, and has the ability to define the very future of the Five Towns, no one gets too excited about it until a week or ten days before it actually takes place.

While the board controls a budget of upwards of $100 million, those serving on the board are all volunteers and busy professionals who are preoccupied with their careers and families. They devote an inordinate amount of time to the local schools they are responsible for, attending meetings and meeting with school officials. As a collective governing body, the current board has righted an educational situation that was on a downward spiral before they were elected to serve.

As with most elections in a free and democratic society, there are at least two very strongly held opinions and positions that generate a great deal of emotion from within the electorate. And the situation here as we approach the election in this district is no different.

But as we recounted in this space last week, the group that currently influences and perhaps even dominates opinion that opposes the current education board in the Lawrence Districtâ€”they now call themselves Pride in Diversityâ€”has on its agenda items that have, for the most part, very little to do with education. If they were concerned about the success of the educational system in the district they would disband their campaign and support the current board that has worked so diligently and accomplished so much during the last year alone.

For those of our readers who live out of the daily hustle and bustle of local school politics in the Five Towns and its environs, itâ€™s a fascinating sociological phenomenon to observe. As residents, taxpayers, as well as observers of the exploits out here, we have seen a turnaround over the last decade of Purim-like proportions. But now it is more than just the demographic composition of the community that has shifted. There is now a new consideration that may be equal to or even outweigh the other factors that go into developing a more-than-$100 million school budget. And that is the uncertainty and unpredictability of the new economy.

Thatâ€™s why the election that is coming next month is so important. During the next year the new board will have to negotiate a new teachers contract that without the current majority on the board and left to the devices that used to manage things around here would end up costing residents thousands of dollars. The Pride in Diversity candidates believe that the most important issue in the coming year is that contract. They disguise that concern as being unease about the children and whether or not they will suffer educationally because of fiscal prudence and the need for financial responsibility. At the meetings that take place regularly itâ€™s usually the loudest voices who have a spouse or another close relative employed by the school district, which explains their forceful and emotional feelings.

According to school board members with expertise on the details of the current contract, that concern for a better educational environment for the children would be difficult to justify. Over the last four years of the current contract foisted on the people by a lame duck majority, teachers and other school personnel have enjoyed annual raises in their salaries plus increases in their benefits package without any additional concessions in the realm of education to benefit the children who of course are the fabric and substance as well as the reason that the school district exists.

Today Lawrence District teachers are among the highest paid on Long Island. The districtâ€™s 340 teachers work a total of 184 days per year. Of the total number of teachers, 188 are paid $100,000 or more plus some very generous and attractive benefits. The teachers work a seven-hour day that includes a forty-minute lunch break. In addition, the current contract calls for each teacher to have 15 sick days plus 3 personal days that are cumulative. At present, the teachers are responsible for 20% of their medical insurance, which includes full dental coverage.

The current contract that expires next year includes a 30% increase in pay over the life of the contract. That kind of agreement was a bad deal for residents of the district when the board ratified it four years ago. By todayâ€™s standard it is an awful deal. The Lawrence Teachers Union has made it clear that they will be seeking the same type of contract come renewal time next year---that means another 30% pay increase. Itâ€™s an astounding and even antagonistic preliminary position for a union in the present economic climate.

The position of the current boardâ€”provided that those up for re-election are once again voted inâ€”is to demand a wage freeze for district teachers for at least one year. Additionally the plan is to request that the union agree to have teachers giving educational instruction for an additional forty minutes per day. â€œHow can they claim that itâ€™s all about the children and education when they have received 30% wage increases and have not given an additional minute in instructional time to the children?â€ said a school board official. â€œWe feel that if the union agrees to the additional time this can result in 20,000 new hours of education for the children over the life of the next contract,â€ the official said.

It is very easy to see beneath the surface of the Pride in Diversity claims of desiring an improved educational environment for the children. Individuals who attended the Pride in Diversity meetings but requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the 5 Towns Jewish Times said that discussion within the group is focused to the point of obsession on two issues. One is the developmentally disabled children being educated at Kulanu Torah Academy in Cedarhurst, and the other is the district policy of busing children from within the district to their yeshivas.

If the P-in-D candidates are successful in the May 11 election, it will mean a giant step backwards in the educational opportunities created by the approval of KTA as a viable alternative to special education in the district. It will also be a blow to the current policies that govern busing for district children.

Despite the great strides made by the school board now serving the community, a lackluster turnout at the voting stations on May 11 could represent a giant step backwards for just about all the children being educated in the district. Aside from the out-of-control teachersâ€™ contact that needs to be contained by the next and future board, there are at least two other vital issues that need to be considered when you think about the upcoming vote.

One is this idea that Orthodox Jews who send their childrenâ€”by choice, of courseâ€”to a yeshiva or other private school, are by virtue of that choice not qualified to govern a school community in which the mistaken notion exists that this means public schools exclusively. Itâ€™s a wild and irresponsible position that has become the mantra of Pride in Diversity, the metamorphosed ALPS (Alliance of Lawrence Public Schools) that was the organizing body of opposition candidates over the last few years.

The seven individuals who today compose the Lawrence District School Board are all professionals with outstanding accomplishments in their professional lives. They all either manage their own businesses or other professional corporations. What they are capable of is no longer theoretical either. Their track record of educational accomplishments for all the children in the district along with their demonstrated fiscal responsibility says to all of us, regardless of the extent of our involvement in the district schools, that this is what we both want and need.

Secondly, New Jersey voters went to the polls en mass this past Tuesday in school districts up and down the state. Reports say that no New Jersey school budget had been defeated at the polls over the last thirty years. This past Tuesday over 50% of the school budgets that were up for votes were rejected by voters.

The New York Times reported on Wednesday that school districts around the country are being forced to resort to drastic money-saving measures, â€œwarning hundreds of thousands of teachers that their jobs may be eliminated in June.â€ The piece that takes a look at school districts around the country says â€œthe 2010â€“2011 school year is shaping up to be the most austere in the last half century.â€ The article by Tamar Lewin and Sam Dillon says that â€œin addition to teacher layoffs, districts are planning to close schools, cut programs, enlarge classes, and shorten the school day, week, or year to save money.â€ Meanwhile Lawrence District teachers are looking for a 30% increase in pay over the life of their next contract. Talk about not being in touch.

The news is that citizens in New Jersey, as well as here in the district and around the country, have had enough of endless spending without any rhyme or reason. It is really time for unions like the Lawrence Teachers Association to step forward and offer a voluntary wage freeze and propose a series of give-backs for the benefit of the children.

They have not indicated any hint of moving in this direction. The current school board members who are up for re-electionÂâ€”Dr. Sol Blisko, Nachum Marcus, and Dr. David Sussmanâ€”are dedicated to accomplishing precisely that objective.

As you can see, this yearâ€™s school board vote is probably the most important in a long time.

Comments for Larry Gordon are welcome at editor@5tjt.com.