WEST MILFORD — The West Milford Township Board of Education approved salary guides for the West Milford Education Association (WMEA) Tuesday night, enabling the teachers’ new contract to take effect. But the vote was not without controversy and ended with the Negotiations Committee chairperson resigning from his chairmanship and his position on the committee.
The new three-year contract includes a 2.3 percent increase.
Last month, the school board tabled the WMEA salary guides, which specify salary ranges for each level of employee in the WMEA, including all teachers. Tuesday night, there was an item added to the agenda to contract with the New Jersey School Boards Association (NJSBA) to seek guidance on the salary guide. Trustee Wayne Gottlieb, the chairman of the Negotiations Committee which worked on the guides with the WMEA, said the committee agreed to contact the NJSBA for consultation. But there was a difference of opinion between the other Negotiations Committee members. Trustee Marilyn Schultz agreed with Gottlieb about the recommendation to go to the NJSBA. School Board President David Richards and Trustee Donna Richards, the other two members of the committee, disagreed. Donna Richards said the recommendation to seek a consultation was for future negotiation. She was at the committee meeting; David Richards was not.
The board voted to bring the tabled resolution back onto the agenda.
Missing a key goal
Gottlieb said a key goal of the Negotiations Committee was to set new salary guides in order to eliminate “bubbles of alligator bites” in the present salary guide. He said the committee was seeking to create a base-year guide and new three-year salary guides from the NJSBA.
Conlon acknowledged the work of the Negotiations Committee, but said he didn’t see a better situation for the children, staff and residents of West Milford coming from any further negotiations. He said the board needs to just move forward.
“We are ultimately all working toward the same common goal - to put the best education out there for the children of West Milford,” said Conlon. “Not all issues can be worked out in one negotiation.”
Debate among the committee members
Members of the Negotiations Committee didn’t agree on what happened in their meeting. Schultz said she thought they were still negotiating since another committee meeting had been set up for October.
David Richards said both the board and the WMEA agreed there were problems with the existing salary guides and steps are needed to correct them. The process continued for over a year, he said. “All parties (the board and WMEA) at the end weren’t totally happy,” he said, “but we came to the conclusion that it was the best thing for the district.”
Gottlieb accused members of the board of scheming in the matter.
“Some people around this table think they are very clever, and maybe some of you in the audience think they are clever too; but I’ve got news for you, they’re not,” said Gottlieb. “Because what they were scheming to do tonight leaked out and gave me plenty of time to come up with a prepared statement that I’m going to read later in this meeting. And there will be consequences to this.”
He read the statement (see below) later in the meeting, which included his resignation as chairman and member of the Negotiations Committee. That statement was met with applause from the very crowded meeting room, filled mostly with members of the WMEA.
The subsequent vote to approve the salary guides for the WMEA was approved by a majority of the board, 6-3, with Gottlieb, Koeppe and Schultz voting against it.
Should the board have waited for input? Go to westmilfordmessenger.com and join the conversation.