The Words Speak for Themselves

The image above, although commemorating the men and women who served in the Korean conflict, is truly representative of of all those brave hearts who fought in all of America’s overseas entanglements.  The words on that plaque are etched on a stone in the pavilion of the Korean War Memorial in Washington, D.C., and are more eloquent that any others which I might add.                                                                                 

South Korea, a Grateful Friend

Had it not been for U.S. Armed forces under the initial direction of General Douglas MacArthur in the early 1950's, South Korea would have been overrun and absorbed by North Korean communist forces goaded on by the U.S.S.R. (the former Russian empire), with the support of communist China.

Without our help and that of other U.N. forces, the now vibrant and prosperous nation of South Korea might be non-existent, and its people living under the repressive umbrella of the failed communist regime which governs the north of the Korean peninsula today.

South Korea, with Seoul as its capital, lies below the infamous 38th parallel which partitions the two countries in half. It is a nation which does not need to be reminded of its friendship with America. Nor do South Koreans equivocate about the value of that relationship.

Their freedom was obtained at the price 54,246 American dead; 103,284 wounded; 7,140 captured; and 8,177 missing in action. Those numbers are engraved in stone on the grounds of the Korean War Memorial in Washington, D.C. Total casualties for all U.N. forces, including Koreans, were even greater.

The Korean conflict – dubbed "The Forgotten War" -- was a nasty, dirty affair whose ultimate political purpose, like that of Vietnam, was never clearly articulated by Washington. Yet South Koreans proudly have no reservations in expressing their gratitude for the American support that provided their freedom then and which guarantees it now.

If only certain of our leaders in Washington felt as unapologetic about the quality of the American character as they.

Photo Note:  South Korea Gratefully Commemorates its American Ally at the Korean War Memorial in Washington, D.C. (by Dick Bergeron)

So Easily Forgotten

Memorial Day, like so many of our national U.S. holidays, seems to have morphed into just another weekend only weakly linked to the commemoration of the events which originally gave them life.

This weekend fits that category very well. I’m just like many of you in the sense that I can find it easy to forget what it is that this nation is really celebrating in the next couple of days: the enormous sacrifice which American servicemen and women have made to secure the peace not only for ourselves, but for other nations as well. Not to mention the debt of fidelity which we owe them.

We need something to jolt us back to the reality that our freedom was won not only with the blood of our best men and women, but that it remains a fragile condition not to be taken for granted. In my case, that “something” is the memory of my own three brothers who served, as well as the visual reminders that I experience each time that I visit the war memorials in Washington, D.C.

In particular, the photo that I snapped last year while visiting the Korean War Memorial highlights an aphorism which we could well engrave in our hearts, as well as in our minds: “Freedom is not Free.”


Photo Note:  A wall at the Korean War Memorial, Washington, D.C.: A reminder of a plain truth so often minimized and sometimes forgotten. (by Dick Bergeron)

Police & Township Employees Set the Example for 2010

If you haven’t already read it, check out Kara Richardson’s report in Tuesday’s Courier News about the agreement reached with the Bridgewater Police. They’ve accepted a four-year agreement which specifies a wage freeze in 2010. Other township employees have already agreed to that concession.

This is in stark contrast with the three unions representing teachers and support staff, principals and supervisors of the Bridgewater-Raritan School District. About midway in the budget process, a written request to re-open contract negotiations was made by Board President Jeffrey Brookner and was turned down..

After the school budget was rejected by voters, Matthew Moench, Bridgewater Township Council President was rebuffed by the unions when he publicly expressed a strong preference for the three school bargaining units to accept a one-year wage freeze.

In contrast to the Bridgewater Police Department’s wage freeze, the BREA will enjoy a contracted pay raise of 4.35% for the new school year beginning July 1, 2010. The principals and supervisors will get similar increases.

As I have consistently discussed in this blog previously, school employees continue to enjoy pay increases significantly above the inflation rate. On May 20th, the Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. inflation is at a “44-year low,” hovering under 1%.

And this doesn’t even begin to take into account the perilous financial condition of The State of New Jersey and its resulting inability to support excessive wage packages through increased school aid, thereby leaving the hapless local homeowner to pick up the tab.

Photo Note:  Entrance to the Bridgewater Police Department — click once on photo for a better view (by Dick Bergeron)

Trenton Demonstration Didn’t Help State Budget Crisis

A prominent front-page, above-the-fold photo in Sunday’s The Star-Ledger depicts Barbara Keshishian, President of the New Jersey Education Association with her arms uplifted, addressing a throng of union supporters gathered in Trenton on Saturday to protest the fiscal reform initiatives of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

If you were looking at that picture without the headline and the accompanying caption, you could not be faulted for mistaking the scene for that of a televangelist addressing partisans.

I don’t intend any disrespect for either the NJEA president or for TV preachers by that statement, but the similarity of true-believer fervor implied in the pose captured by photographer Ed Murray is striking.

What I am underscoring by this pictorial comparison is that the zeal and passion with which both are dedicated to their causes doesn’t always support the legitimacy of the message which they deliver. People, at least those in the general New Jersey population, tend to listen better when the rhetoric is toned done a bit.

The fact is that The Garden State is near insolvency, and the national economy is in a state of major fiscal disrepair. No Trenton rally will alter that fundamental verity or the conviction that union leadership has a responsibility to encourage its members to acclimate themselves to that reality.

This by no means subtracts from the valuable contributions that public employees – in this case school personnel – have made and continue to make for the progress of this state. But it does mean that there is a permanent national economic shift taking place which public employees can no longer ignore and to which they need to adjust their financial expectations.

Transitioning from School Elections to School Reform

In the last few months, whoever said that voters should not get to approve school budgets learned a lesson in American local government. For far too long, the turnout at April school elections has been spotty at best, reflecting either no interest or, in some cases, an awareness usually prompted by some hot topic such as redistricting or a change in curriculum.

Without any pressing issues, turnout is usually humdrum and non-representative. Not this year. The election of Governor Chris Christie combined with his out-of-the-gate proposals to restrain school district spending and his attempt to introduce accountability into the educational system drew statewide attention. This resulted not only in some of the largest turnouts ever seen, but in an enormously high rate of rejected school budgets.

What impressed me the most is that for the first time that I am aware of, union contracts became the stuff of significant public input in which parents and other voters finally educated themselves about the content of association contracts which their boards of education had negotiated. It was informed voter pressure which led to the union givebacks that we have all been reading about.

In the Bridgewater-Raritan School District for example, it was the direct, overwhelming voice of parent groups which were responsible for BREA givebacks of $1.6 million. It was their coming to the mike individually, meeting after meeting with other citizens to insist that the BREA respond with concessions.

I found that to be a breath of fresh air compared to the usual closed-door negotiation sessions which school boards and unions employ to keep the public in the dark. At budget time, the standard answer to why costs are so high is that wages are “the biggest chunk of the budget,” that wage increases are “in the contract” and, therefore, “there is nothing we can do about it.”

Let’s hope that the reforms being proposed in Trenton put an end once and for all to that irresponsible Catch-22 situation.  Thanks for reading.  Stay informed, and enjoy your weekend.

Photo:  A Bridgewater parent addresses the school board concerning the AI program at the April 27th 2010, reorganization meeting. (by Dick Bergeron)

School Board to Approve Key Proposals

This evening, the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education will hold a special meeting beginning at 7:00 PM at the Wade Administration Building in Martinsville. It should be brief. There are only two agenda items and, although both are important, there may not be much, if any, controversy.

The board will decide on accepting the $1,037,000 budget reduction approved by the Bridgewater and Raritan municipal councils after last week’s post-midnight meeting at the Bridgewater Municipal Complex. The B-R BOE was in attendance that night and participated in the discussions.

The board can’t change the number, but can redirect where to make changes. There is no expectation that the board will appeal the amount of reductions.

The second agenda item is board approval of its ‘Race to the Top Application.’ In a related story which appeared in The Star-Ledger today, Commissioner of Education Bret Schundler, the New Jersey Legislature, and the New Jersey Education Association seem to be on the same page this time about The Garden State’s formal application to the U.S. Government for a $400 million grant of ‘Race to the Top’ school funding.

The last effort to submit this application under the Corzine administration for a grant of from $200 to $400 million was thwarted because the NJEA did not support it. This time around, with Governor Christie wanting to remove $820 million in school aid from the proposed budget, the NJEA has come to the table.

Photo by Dick Bergeron:  Dr. Michael Schilder takes notes at the Bridgewater-Raritan's reorganization meeting of April 27

Respecting the Power of the Unions

It’s just about all over now, except for formal action by the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education on Tuesday evening, May 18. At that meeting, the board will decide whether to accept or to modify the cuts to the school budget made by the Bridgewater and Raritan councils last Wednesday.

Don’t expect any surprises on Tuesday. The board will not challenge the councils’ cuts by appealing to the New Jersey Commissioner of Education – that would be fatal. Despite any claims to the contrary, the administration and the board were lucky to get away with reductions of only $1,037,000 to the 2010/2011 school budget.

The real failure of this budget process was the refusal of the three bargaining units to accept a one-year wage freeze which would have minimized budget losses. The unions’ successful pushback to Governor Christie’s and this community’s repeated requests to do so underscores the enormous power of the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) and of its local affiliate, the Bridgewater-Raritan Education Association (BREA).

A major component of that power is the Bridgewater local’s ability to mobilize its members, as well as the parents of this district into a cohesive force that only the slightest majority of voters was able to counter. Even though many parents and at least some teachers (we will never know how many, because no vote was taken) supported a wage freeze, the absolute tight-fisted solidarity of union leadership prevailed.

There are at least two takeaways from this. The first is that boards of education need to pre-plan their bargaining strategies well in advance and find a way not to be such pushovers in contract negotiations. It’s not too soon for the Bridgewater-Raritan School Board to come up with a line-in-the-sand strategy effective enough to counter the BREA. This district has had enough of “win-win” contracts in which the community comes out as a loser.

The second is that Governor Christie’s office needs to find a realistic way to gain consensus with the legislature on his signature strategy to enact “Cap 2.5” legislation that will finally put a limit on runaway spending.

Mr. Christie has the momentum and the support of the majority of New Jerseyans on this one, but it would be an enormous mistake for him or his staff to discount the NJEA’s lobbying power, as well as that of other symbiotic muscle groups who stand to lose greatly should his initiatives become law.

Thanks for reading, and stay engaged.

Bridgewater and Raritan Councils Agree on School Budget Cuts

At 12:10 AM today, at the end of a meeting that began at 7:00 PM on Wednesday, the combined councils of Bridgewater Township and Raritan Borough agreed to reduce the budget of the Bridgewater-Raritan School District by $1,037,000.

The elements of the cuts are as follows: $600,000 in savings realized when retiring senior staff is replaced by younger lower-paid staff; a $250,000 additional reduction in the district’s reserve account; a $150,000 savings through elimination of the Spanish language/cultural program at the 3rd and 4th grade levels, while retaining it at the 5th and 6th grade levels; and a reduction of $37,000 in the postage account.

The six-member Raritan Borough Council voted unanimously on a formal resolution for these cuts. The five-member Bridgewater Township Council agreed as well, with only one member, Christine Henderson Rose dissenting from the majority.

Bridgewater needs to have its attorney draft a formal resolution which will be voted upon at tonight’s regularly scheduled meeting, where the official voting outcome is not expected to vary from this morning’s poll.

Union Urges its Members to Boycott Tonight’s Meeting

BREA President, Steve Beatty, on behalf of the Executive Committee of the Bridgewater-Raritan Education Association has requested his membership to boycott this evening’s 7:00 PM school budget meeting of the Bridgewater Township and Raritan Borough Councils at Bridgewater’s Municipal Complex.

It appears to be a reversal of strategy, as other such meetings have been populated wall-to-wall with association members. This does not necessarily portend a meeting room devoid of people coming to the mike to express their views. A petition of undisclosed origin has been selectively targeted asking that the municipal councils make little or no further cuts. It could be presented to the councils this evening unless there has been a change of plans.

BREA leadership has also informed its members that it has “received reliable information that . . . the town councils will announce a cut to the school’s budget this week in excess of $2.4 million, perhaps even over $3 million.” That claim has not been confirmed with either municipal council as of this writing – we will find out tonight.

Does this Man Hold the Key?

A handful of people will now determine the fate of budget reductions to the Bridgewater-Raritan School District.

Among those, I believe that Jeffrey Brookner, the president of the Bridgewater-Raritan School Board, is highly influential, at least in this stage of the process.

More than anything else, the contentious issue of further reducing the budget or of coming up with merely token cuts or none at all is a major policy decision.

Consequently, Mr. Brookner’s position on additional budget reductions as he advances his views constitutes a major policy stand which will demonstrate his mettle in dealing with the voters’ message delivered in the April 20th election.

In one of the public meetings which I attended since the school budget was first proposed in December, 2009, someone raised the question of why the entire custodial staff was being outsourced. Mr. Brookner responded that this district could no longer afford above-market salaries for their services.

If that’s true, then there needs to be a compelling reason as to why all other employees in the three bargaining units representing teachers, support staff, principals and supervisors will have the benefit of above-market contract salary increases, in addition to the above-market salary rates of the previous two years.

The Bridgewater-Raritan Education Association’s piece of the pie is a 4.35% contract increase beginning July 1.

Note: The committee charged with representing the two municipalities and the school district in discussions which took place on May 6th is composed of the following officials: Denise Carra and John LaMaestra for Raritan Borough; Matthew Moench and Christine Henderson Rose for Bridgewater Township; Jeffrey Brookner, Lynne Hurley and Michael Schilder for the school district.

Tomorrow evening at 7:00 PM, the Bridgewater Township Council and the Raritan Borough Council will meet in a special joint meeting at the Bridgewater Municipal Complex to discuss and to possibly take action on the failed school budget.

Time to Acknowledge Gratitude for our Mothers

Today is one of the great American holidays, time for a time-out to say thanks to our moms and wives for the daily sacrifices and drudgery to which they commit in their role as either full-time, stay-at-home moms, or as those who voluntarily juggle motherhood with a paid outside job.

Neither is an easy commitment and, as I look back upon the role that my own spouse took upon herself, I marvel at how she decided to play both roles, first becoming a full-time homemaker, then deciding to hit the workplace when the kids became older.

Every decision that a mother makes about those roles is highly individualistic and has to be tailored to the circumstances of her individual family situation – none of us is qualified to judge an individual woman’s choice.

Either way, we men can’t do without them. So I’m grateful for having been blessed with my mom, with my own spouse, and with my daughter who carries on the tradition.

Thanks for reading, and stay engaged.

Bridging the Gap

Collegiality and civilized discussion prevailed among the municipal councils of Bridgewater Township, Raritan Borough and the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education last night in the meeting room of Bridgewater’s new municipal complex.

Nonetheless, it was evident from comments made by officials of the three groups that there is still a long way to go to reach agreement on an acceptable school budget-reduction number.

In remarks at the outset of the meeting, Bridgewater Council President Matthew Moench said that “the council has not decided on a number.” In reference to what seems to have become an iconic budget-reduction target e.g., the $2.4 million which “corresponds to a (one-year) wage freeze,” Mr. Moench added that, “it could be more, it could be less.”

Reading from a prepared statement, Bridgewater-Raritan School Board President Jeffrey Brookner outlined the cuts that were already made since the budget was originally proposed in mid-December, 2009. Perhaps referring to the tripartite, 7-person committee that I discussed in my previous post, he said, “We will debate whether even more cuts are needed. The answer, he added, is simple . . . (we can absorb) $500,000 from recent retirements. Any more cuts will negatively impact education.”

The $500K to which Mr. Brookner was referring is known in education circles as ‘breakage.’ It represents the difference between the higher salaries of long-tenured personnel who retire, and the lower salaries of their replacements. It’s an even larger number if there are no replacements.

However, ‘breakage’ is found money and should be kept off the table in the committee discussions. That $500K will most likely grow to what could be $1 million or more by September, especially if Governor Christie extends the notification time to encourage more high-salaried staff to retire between now and the start of the next school year.

‘Breakage’ is not a budget-cut line item and it should not be considered as a reduction to the 2010/2011 school budget. That would be the easy way out and it leaves no buffer for next year. That brings us back to the possibility of a $2.4 million wage-freeze.

Municipal Councils and Board of Education Tackle Budget Cuts

In a meeting which lasted three-and-a-half hours at the Bridgewater Municipal Complex, the Councils for Bridgewater Township and Raritan Borough met in open session with the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education to hear comments from the public and to discuss next steps.

Most of the meeting time consisted in hearing the views of the public which, in turn, consisted mainly of school personnel who were supported in their comments by parents. The preponderance of views expressed were clearly in favor of making little or no cuts to the budget. No teachers spoke in favor of a one-year wage freeze.

After all comments were in, several council members of both municipalities, including Bridgewater Council President, Matthew Moench, surprisingly still favored a voluntary $2.4 million wage freeze from all three school bargaining units. Since most of the Bridgewater-Raritan school budget is made up of wages and benefits, that's where the opportunity for cost reduction comes from.

At the very end of the meeting, Moench made a plea to BREA President Steve Beatty to reconsider taking the question of a wage freeze directly to the rank and file for an up or down vote. The same request applies to the bargaining units for the principals and supervisors.

A subcommittee of all three governing bodies will now consider specific proposals and report back. Mr. Moench indicated that another public meeting like that of tonight will be held in about two weeks. The final adjusted budget is due to the New Jersey Commissioner of Education by May 19th.

On the tripartite subcommittee are Matthew Moench and Christine Henderson Rose for Bridgewater Township; Denise Carra and John LaMaestra for Raritan Borough; and Jeffrey Brookner, Lynne Hurley and Michael Schilder for the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education.

The Silence of the Leaders

Except for the Superintendent of the Bridgewater-Raritan School District, Dr. Michael Schilder, there seems to have been a veil of public silence over the school budget from two leadership groups, the supervisors and the principals. Dr. Schilder, through his presentations and comments at public meetings, as well as through a series of e-mails to a recipient list has been very expressive in his views about that topic.

So has Mr. Steve Beatty, President of the Bridgewater-Raritan Education Association which represents mostly teachers, but also includes secretaries, custodians, maintenance workers and others. (Lately, he has not spoken before the board of education or either municipal body.)

But the principals and supervisors, each represented by their own union, seem to be comfortable with officially remaining in the public background; and lately, it appears, letting Mr. Beatty speak for them on the much publicized question of a wage freeze for the upcoming academic year.

The principals and supervisors were the first to endorse a contribution to their health care benefits. Together with a give-up of certain other educational expenses, those concessions were subsequently adopted by the BREA.

A thoughtful person has to wonder what might happen now, if the principals and supervisors were to take the lead and to reconsider their previous rejection of a one-year wage freeze. It’s not too late.

Instead, since their initiative with the health care concession, the two unions seem to have linked arms with the BREA.

Why is that? At a time when the superintendent of schools and the entire non-bargaining team have already given up their salary increases for next year, why are the principals and supervisors still resisting? Please . . . Don’t tell me that they have already contributed enough through a 1.5% concession towards health care benefits.

It would be unwise to minimize the total impact of health care concessions which, for the BREA alone represents a $1 million give-back to the district. Notwithstanding, let’s also remember that those contributions are already scheduled to go into effect by law as soon as existing contracts expire. On July 1st, the BREA finds itself in the last year of its three-year wage agreement.

This is the consequential issue: The Bridgewater-Raritan community is staring at the stark possibility of further significant reductions to the school budget. Only a $2.4 million wage freeze might assure that more teachers will not lose their jobs.

Thanks for reading, and stay engaged.

Impasse on Bridgewater-Raritan School Budget

The President of the Bridgewater Township Council, Matthew Moench, was advised on Friday that the three major bargaining units for the Bridgewater-Raritan School District have rejected the two municipalities’ request to accept a voluntary wage freeze amounting to $2.4 million for the 2010/2011 school year.

Mr. Moench expressed disappointment that the only “the only solution offered was $1 million from budget salary ‘breakage.’”  This is a rather arcane term that represents the differential between the higher salary of retiring staff and the lower salary of new staff.

The higher salaries of long-term employees are always built into the budget at the outset, because there is no way of knowing in advance how many experienced, higher salaried personnel will retire. It’s important to note that, according to Moench, “school administration says that there is now $500,000” worth of known ‘breakage,’” half the number claimed by the BREA.

“There was not any plausible solution offered,” Moench said and, “essentially, we were told, ‘we are not helping; good luck,’” He added that “They (the union representatives) don’t think we will cut $2.4 million or more . . . they really are misreading the public. If the $2.4 million salary freeze had been proffered, we would have accepted it. At first, some council members thought that was too low. Now, it could be a larger number.”

“We asked for a wage freeze in the hope that they would have cooperated. Union representatives put themselves ahead of their fellow colleagues and kids. They had a chance to practice what they preach, and they didn’t do it.”

Steve Beatty, speaking for the Bridgewater-Raritan Education Association of which he is President, as well as for the other two administrators’ unions representing the Principals and the Supervisors, offered another view.

Mr. Beatty rebutted by claiming that, in combination, the three union groups have already given up a total of $2.4 million in concessions, although not as a wage freeze he admits. He arrived at that number by stating that the $1.6 million in forfeited education reimbursement expenses and in the 1.5% of salary volunteered as a health care contribution, when combined with $0.8 million in ‘breakage’ already equals $2.4 million.

“What difference does it make where the money is coming from?” he asked.

Beatty continued, “We are not trying to be greedy. We are looking at the long and short term. What is being asked of us is political.”

When asked why each of the three bargaining units did not take the municipal councils’ request for a $2.4 million wage freeze to their rank and file for an up or down vote, he responded, “We truly believe that the executive committee(s) has a handle on how members feel. We talked to people and teachers and we listened.”

Beatty also volunteered that originally, the BREA did not want to accept any cuts in advance of the budget vote at the April 20th election. “We would have liked to wait until after the vote,” he said, “but we were prodded, pushed and bullied” into concessions before the April 20th election.

Also asked how he thinks the public will feel after this, he said “I’m pretty sure it will be bad and we will have some angry people; we will also have some on our side; it’s hard to say. My fear is that the councils have made up their mind. If we don’t agree, the councils may cut $3.5 million or more. It’s possible.”