Board Officers Add their Views on Collective Bargaining with BREA

On March 22^nd, Messrs. Krenetsky and Beatty of the BREA’s Negotiations Team responded to questions about the status of their talks with the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education.

Following that discussion, I spoke with Mr. Jeffrey Brookner, President of the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education and, at the end, with Mr. Evan Lerner, Board VP, concerning the same talks noted above.  (Both are members of the School District’s Negotiations Team.)

Question:  Will you provide specifics about the status of the current negotiations with the BREA?

Responses:  Mr. Brookner said that “The (Negotiations) Team had discussed whether or not to have a public statement at this time and decided not to.”  

BREA Leadership Offers its Views on Collective Bargaining

As discussed in the last post, several members of the BREA Negotiations Team and several representatives of the Bridgewater-Raritan School Board agreed to speak with me concerning collective bargaining now underway.  The last three-year contract with the BREA ends on June 30^th, 2011.

I spoke separately to each group.  Mr. Joseph Krenetsky is the Negotiations Chairman for the teachers, as well as for other school district employees represented by the BREA.  Mr. Steve Beatty is the union’s President.  An excerpt of that interview appears below:


 Question:  What can you tell me about the status of the labor negotiations with the Bridgewater-Raritan School District?

More on Disclosure and the Collective Bargaining Process

As mentioned in yesterday’s post concerning the collective bargaining process currently underway between the Bridgewater-Raritan Education Association and the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education, there are at least two key public policy issues at stake.

The first is the question of public disclosure concerning collective bargaining negotiation sessions, while the second is the matter of the timing and frequency of that disclosure.

On March 8, at a sparsely attended work session of the Board at the John F. Kennedy School in Raritan, Board President Jeffrey Brookner, upon questioning, explained that there is no legal requirement preventing the Board from disclosing results of joint labor negotiation sessions between it and the BREA. 

Crim Principal and Teachers Explain “Peer Buddy Program.”

Crim Principal, Mrs. Kerr, and Physical Education Teacher, Mr. Staudt

Tuesday evening, at the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education meeting in the conference room at the Wade Administration Building, the main topic seemed to be the passage of the district’s $129.5 million budget. 

There were no surprises, however, as that subject had pretty much been discussed and beaten down in prior meetings dating back to January.  The first round of the preliminary budget was first ready for presentation in December, 2010, even though it did not go before the public at that time.

Thus, the final budget version and the unanimous vote of approval by the Board on Tuesday, March 22, though not humdrum, was not unanticipated – that’s probably why a relatively small gathering of the public was present, and why nobody there came to the lectern to query the Board.

What I thought was the highlight of that meeting was a presentation by Mrs. Kerr, Principal of the Crim Elementary School, and two teachers, Mr. Staudt, a physical education teacher, and Mr. Nivison, a physical therapist.

Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education Passes Final Budget

An assembly of about 25 gathered for tonight's meeting.

Following is a recap of two items relating to this evening’s regular meeting of the B-R BOE at the Wade Administration Building in Martinsville.  The first item, the budget, was on the agenda.  The second item, negotiations, was not. 

2011-2012 School Budget.  Voting unanimously in the affirmative, the full Board passed a $129.5 million budget for the 2011-2012 school year which begins July 1^st, 2011.  Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Michael Schilder; and School Business Administrator/Board Secretary, Peter Starrs, outlined a presentation which was, in essence, the same as the one given previously. 

In addition to the public budget information sessions already announced and still in progress at various schools in the district (see the school website for presentations still to occur), two more have been scheduled.

B-R BOE/Teacher Negotiations Continue; Board to Present Budget.

B-R BOE meets at John F. Kennedy school, Raritan, March 8, 2011

The negotiations team for the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education last met with representatives of the Bridgewater-Raritan Education Association (the teachers union) on March 8. No specific results from that meeting were announced.

Representing the School District on its negotiations team are Board President Jeffrey Brookner, Vice-President Evan Lerner, and Board Member Arvind Mathur. Board member Al Smith of Raritan consults with the team.

Mr. Brookner confirmed today that a professional negotiator, Anthony P. Sciarrillo, has been hired to advise the Board in its deliberations, as well as to participate in them. Mr. Sciarrillo is with the firm of Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper, P.C.

Bridgewater-Raritan Gets Increased School Aid from Trenton

Late this afternoon, the New Jersey Department of Education released its district-by-district school aid numbers, and the Bridgewater-Raritan School District will get $6,717,763, an increase of $1,331,546 over last year’s school aid.

 In my last blog post this morning, I had estimated that, if Governor Christie came through with “a full 1% hike in aid to the B-R School District,” as was being reported in the press, that the B-R School District would receive “approximately $1.3 million” more in state aid.

Trenton came through, and that’s what happened.

As it turns out, the last tentative Bridgewater-Raritan School budget presented on January 25^th included an assumption for school aid of only $4,623,537, a reduction, not an increase from last year. 

This means that the School Board and the Administration are now looking at another $807,933 that is available from their prior, low estimate of school aid.  This number, when added to the $1,331,546 increase announced by the state this afternoon, makes a total of $2,139,479 more that is available to help in funding the budget.

Let’s hope that it is not allocated to salary and benefit increases.