Resolution in Sight with School Supervisors Salary Negotiations

Patrick Breslin, at the April 24, 2013, meeting
of the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education
(Bergeron Image)

SUPERVISORS:  In a conversation with this writer earlier today, Patrick Breslin, President of the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education, disclosed that contract negotiations between representatives of the board and those of the Supervisors Association took place yesterday.  The parties, he said, “arrived at a tentative agreement.”

He indicated that the agreement is now being placed before the members of that association for their review.  Should the supervisors agree to its terms and conditions, the contract could be presented to the Board of Education for its approval as early as at the next school board meeting on Tuesday, May 14, in the Wade Administration Building.

Although Mr. Breslin sounded hopeful, he underscored that he had “no idea how long it would take to reach each of their people, given the weekend,” but he seemed to think that there was a good chance that the all supervisors will have had the opportunity to review the tentative agreement by close of business, next Monday.
There are sixteen supervisors in the district.  Their current salaries range from $91,000 to $144,123.  Of the sixteen, two are slightly below the $100,000 level.

SCHOOL PRINCIPALS:  Breslin said that the BR-BOE’s negotiation team also met with representatives of the Principals Association.  That was on Monday, May 6, that “there are things on the table,” but “that no tentative agreement” had been reached “as of last night.”

There are twenty principal and assistant principal positions in the district, including a vacancy at the Adamsville School which is being filled on a temporary basis by an assistant principal.  Their current salaries range from $104,431 for an assistant principal, to $158,567 for the highest-paid principal.

SUMMARY:  The board president said that he expects to provide a “status” to the public at Tuesday’s board meeting with respect to each situation (supervisors and principals).  Previously, both groups had declared an impasse in negotiations with the BR-BOE, and a different mediator was appointed to each one.

In contract agreements hitherto reached with the Bridgewater-Raritan Education Association and, separately, with the Superintendent of Schools, each of the two had agreed to forgo a first-year salary increase given the economic conditions.  The superintendent’s contract was re-negotiated on June 23^rd, 2010, in advance of a state-imposed salary cap.

When asked whether the supervisors and principals were amenable to the same no-first-year-increase in their current contract negotiations with the board, Breslin said that he “was not going to comment on that.”