Middletown settlement now in sight
Mediator cites ‘diseased’ culture, blames board, union leaders
By alison granito
Staff Writer

Settlement appears to be near in the ongoing contract dispute between the Middletown Township Education Association (MTEA) and the Board of Education.

The board agreed Friday to accept the terms outlined in a report that court-appointed mediator Ronald J. Riccio issued to both parties on Thursday.

His recommendation is for 4, 4.3, 4.4 and 4.6 percent salary increases over four years and a gradual increase in the union’s annual health premium contribution, to $360,458 in 2003-04

With both parties agreeing to be bound by the report, board President Patricia Walsh said that the board attorney, Malachi Kenney, was expected to forward a memorandum of agreement to the MTEA on Monday.

Once that agreement is approved, the union and the board must come together to work out the final details, including the joint development and approval of salary guides.

"I hope the remainder of this process goes quickly, and we can put these problems behind us," said Walsh.

In an effort to bring an end to an emotional labor dispute, which culminated in a seven-day strike, which landed 228 union members in jail after they refused to comply with a judge’s back-to-work order, the MTEA had previously agreed to abide by that report, sight unseen.

Board officials had said they could not commit to any settlement without seeing the details, due to budget constraints.

"The board was relieved that we were able to accept the mediator’s recommendations," Walsh said Monday.

"In the end, I don’t think it met all of our expectations, but our business office ran the numbers. And we could afford it so we accepted," added Walsh.

"I’m happy that not only was the report something that we could accept, but there was a feeling among the board members that it was good, and we could accept it unanimously," said Walsh.

MTEA President Diane Swaim could no be reached for comment.

‘Culture of confrontation’

In addition, to the recommendations for the settlement of contractual issues still outstanding, Riccio also attempts to get to the root of the district’s "culture of confrontation" that has led to two teacher strikes in three years.

"If left unchecked, this destructive culture will not merely erode the District’s property values to the economic detriment of land owners but also destroy the communal spirit of the district and its people to the permanent and irreparable injury of the students whose collective futures all the people of Middletown hold in the palms of their hands," Riccio concluded in the final paragraph of his report.

In the report, Riccio places in-effective leadership by both board and union leaders and personal animosity among those leaders at the heart of the "diseased" culture in the school district.

"There has been and continues to be bad blood between the board and association leaders, and it has trickled down into all parts of the district. As one member of the public observed, ‘it is like watching a bad divorce’," stated Riccio.

"Both sides brought a lot of "baggage’ to this mediation. They were either unable of unwilling to shed that ‘baggage.’ This failure to subordinate their personal animosities is, of course, ineffective leadership in any setting but becomes intolerable where the education of children and young adults hangs in the balance."

In addition to December’s strike, which resulted in the jailing of approximately one quarter of the MTEA membership, union members staged a walk out in September 1998 after the board imposed a contract during the last round of negotiations.

Settlement recommendations

Concerning his settlement recommendations, which the two sides have agreed to, Riccio proposes a separate contract for the current school year and a three-year contract beginning in September.

Salary and benefits had been the two major sticking points since the current contract expired last year on June 30.

For this school year, Riccio recommends at 4 percent increase for teachers. Next year’s increase would be 4.3 percent, while 2003-04 would give the teachers a 4.4 percent increase and 2004-2005 would see the teachers get a 4.6 percent increase over the previous year’s salary.

Riccio’s recommendations on salary increases are less than what the MTEA had requested, but more than the board had offered.

On the issue of health benefits, Riccio chose not to recommend that MTEA members contribute a percentage of the total cost of their health benefits, as the board had advocated.

Instead, Riccio raised the fixed dollar amount that MTEA contributes toward the total cost of health insurance premiums.

Of the current $104.5 million dollar budget, the board spends 8 percent, or $8,150,354, on benefits for MTEA members.

Currently, the MTEA contributes a fixed amount of $160,458 toward the cost of benefits per year. Under the new contract, for the current school year association members would contribute $285,458, $310,458 next year, $330,458 in 2003-04, and $360,458 in the final year of the contract.

Under the mediator’s recommendation, the average yearly contribution of an MTEA member toward the cost of their health benefits would be $358.

The mediator’s report is available to the public on the school district’s Web site, www.middletownk12.org.