East Meadow School District forges forward

Clapping has become a mainstay at the monthly East Meadow Board of Education Communications meetings. On April 22, there were three standing ovations following the board's ratification of new contracts for three major bargaining units.
   
Last year, fanfare was not so evident as disaccord filled a school board that had yet to decide on a new superintendent and had two of its leaders running for reelection. Furthermore, the negotiation period with the teachers union was fast-approaching, and the future of the economy remained bleak.
   
Last week, school board members raised their hands in unison to ratify the successor contract agreements for teachers, administrators and school-related personnel.
   
"I'm satisfied it is not going to be a contentious issue for the next couple of years," said Board President Brian O'Flaherty. "We need to get through these economic times. I'm glad they were able to see that and not hold out."
   
The current contracts will expire on Aug. 31. The new agreements will be for two years, and run through Aug. 31, 2012.
   
Members of the East Meadow Teachers Association, which bargains for the teachers and school-related personnel, will receive a 1.8-percent increase in the first semester of 2010-2011 and a 0.8 percent increase for the second semester. In 2011-2012, EMTA members will receive a 1.9 percent increase based on the teacher's average salary in the previous year.
   
School officials said that holding a portion of the raise until the second semester allows the district to invest those funds and possibly generate revenue before they are paid out.
   
“The members of the EMTA are satisfied that the union and Board of Education were able to agree on a fair settlement before the expiration of the current contract,” EMTA President John Gallagher said in a prepared statement. “Both sides are acutely aware of the difficult economic climate. As a result, realistic and reasonable expectations led to an early agreement.”
    
The raises are smaller than those in the expiring teachers contract, which had consistent yearly increases of around 3.5 percent. It took about three years to negotiate the expiring six-year contract. 
   
The East Meadow Supervisory and Administrative Association struck a similar deal, but went for semester-by-semester raises in both years. They will receive a 2 percent raise in the first semester of 2010-11 and a 1 percent increase in the second semester. In 2011-12, they will again receive raises of 2 percent in the first semester and 1 percent in the second semester, but like the EMTA contract, those raises will be based on the average of the previous year’s salaries.
   
"We are more than pleased that both EMTA and EMSAA were able to settle their negotiation agreements in a harmonious fashion," said Gregory Bottari, EMSAA president and principal at Barnum Woods Elementary School. "Recognizing the economic climate, we had to really strive for a fair agreement."
       
Choices and consequences
   
As for the proposed budget, which the school board unanimously approved at the April 8 work session, the increases in spending and on the tax levy are at record lows, according to school officials.
   
The budget-to-budget rise in spending for 2010-11 would be 1.7 percent, while the increase in the tax levy would be 1.36 percent. It would keep all programs and jobs intact. 
   
The public will vote on the proposed budget on May 18.
   
"I am proud to be able to say that we believe we have accomplished our goal of developing a budget which preserves all of our educational and extracurricular programs and contains no reduction in staff, but yet acknowledges that we understand that in this economic climate many of our taxpayers are stretched to limits to which perhaps they have never been stretched before," DeAngelo said.