Frustrated by the National Election Scene?

. . . Then perhaps it’s time to take a look at candidates running for local office.  In particular, three people who may not be getting much attention are those on the ballot for appointment to the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education.

Jeffrey Brookner & Jill Gladstone at a 6/12/2012 Board Event.

All three are incumbents, and all are running unopposed.  To a certain degree, that frustrates me, because this large school district is one of the most important resources to these two communities, and it commands the largest share of the real estate tax burden.

There was a time in this district when BR-BOE School Board seats were hotly contested and when attendance and participation by the public at School Board meetings was high.

Those days are gone.

Although I would like to see more diversity on this School Board and the infusion of fresh blood, that does not necessarily lead to better outcomes.

Bridgewater-Raritan School Board Discloses Details of Teachers Union Salary Negotiations

For the first time in memory, the Board of Education for Bridgewater-Raritan Schools (the Board) has disclosed details of its ongoing salary and benefit negotiations with the teachers’ union, the Bridgewater-Raritan Education Association (BREA).

Since February, both parties have been locked in secret negotiations, according to a release on the Board’s web site, the highlights of which follow:

The BREA seeks a three-year contract under which the Board has offered salary increases of 3.25%, 2.9%, and 2.9%, for years one, two and three respectively, for a cumulative three-year increase of 9.05%.

However, since multi-year salary increases are compounded over time, the Board’s actual three-year salary proposal to the BREA is 9.33%.

Icy Rain and a Few Thoughts about a Delayed BR-BOE Meeting

Brd. Sec. Peter Starrs and Consultant Judith Ferguson review data.

THE DRIVE:  It was one of those mornings when no one with a modicum of common sense should be on the road.  I think that I may have had a lapse in judgment about that basic dictum. 

Around 7:30 am, I put a pair of ice walkers over the soles of my shoes, got behind the wheel of one of the Subaru’s, and carefully drove to the Wade Building for an 8:00 am, Sunday morning public meeting billed as a “Special Session of the Board.”

Icing conditions for early today had been predicted well in advance.  This morning, roads were treacherous.  Washington Valley Road was covered with ice – too early even for road crews to salt all of the roadways.

While driving, I pulled over into the breakdown lane at least five times to let careless drivers pass. Eventually, I safely arrived at the Wade Building in Martinsville after a long, rather harrowing drive at 15 to 20 mph.

New Common Core Testing Requirements Cause Consternation in Education Communities

 As promised in my blog post of Friday, January 9^th, the text below contains the entirety of the comments delivered to the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education at its reorganization meeting on Monday, January 6^th, by Mr. Steve Beatty, President of the Bridgewater-Raritan and Somerset County Boards of Education.

Mr. Beatty emphasizes a point in in his address to the BR-BOE.

They contain strong objections to the new academic testing process soon to be introduced into the school district under federal mandates, as a part of Common Core requirements.

Mr. Beatty’s remarks are presented in their entirety and have not been edited.  However, I’ve taken the liberty to add headings to facilitate the reader’s segueing from one sub-topic to the next.  In the first paragraph, I’ve also added a description of the term “PARCC” for those who may not be familiar with this acronym.

Mr. Beatty’s Comments as Delivered on Monday Evening

 Introduction and Initial Critique of PARCC:  I would like to open the conversation on the implementation of the Common Core, and more specifically, the PARCC tests (Partnership of Readiness for College and Careers assessment) and their impact on the students of the Bridgewater-Raritan School District.

A Routine Pre-Election BR-BOE Meeting runs amuck

Most meetings of the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education are relatively tame.  Many of them, especially those having to do with issues near and dear to the hearts of one or more board members will, from time to time, result in very spirited debate in which clear cut views are made plain.  However in the end, opinions are clarified, discussion is closed, a direction is given or a vote is taken, and matters move ahead.

It is very rare that an issue gets as red-hot as a branding iron, but that is what happened on Monday evening, at the John F. Kennedy school in Raritan.  At the beginning and, towards its end, the agenda of that meeting and the ensuing discussions were routine, nothing unusual.  But that would not last.

On Monday, the first row of seats was occupied by students, parents and their supporters on an issue of importance to them.  Proponents stepped to the podium and engaged in easy conversation with members of the board.  This happens often; everything went smoothly.

Several other rows that were occupied in the gym included at least three non-incumbent candidates:  Barry Walker, Lisa Weinstock and Ali Ali, each hoping to lasso one of two open seats on the board.  A fourth, non-incumbent candidate is Christopher Larson.

 

Of the two available seats for Bridgewater, the first is currently held by incumbent Evan Lerner, while the second, now held by Arvind Mathur will be vacated due to his decision not to seek another term after eleven years of service.

A Superb Public Servant Decides to Step Down

Elected officials are a variegated lot.  Some do well. Some do poorly.  I have seen them come.  I have seen them go.  And then, there are those who seem to want to hang onto their posts as if for dear life.

 

Dr. Mathur at last night's Board of Education meeting.

However, there are other types, some, who, with a large dose of common sense and wisdom, choose to exercise what I term “walkaway power.”

It’s what a person will do when the recognition sets in that it is time to move on.  You have made your contribution, you have accomplished your job, you are satisfied with your achievements.  In the end, you realize that your energies need to be focused in another direction.

Such, in my opinion, is the rationale behind the decision that Arvind Mathur employed when, after eleven years in office, he decided not to seek another three-year term to the Bridgewater-Raritan Regional School District.

I’ve known Dr. Mathur from the time that he first called me years ago to comment upon a blog post that I wrote concerning American values.  Something about his reading of that short essay resonated with him and, during our conversation, a bond set in.

School Board Meeting Cancelled Tonight

Due to the impending snowfall that is expected to hit Central Jersey beginning this evening, the re-organization meeting  of the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education has been cancelled and rescheduled for Tuesday, January 7.

If you would like to see the agenda, you can view it from this link.  As of this writing it still bore today's date -- just ignore that.  Although the agenda is 37 pages long, the first few pages deal with the very early part of the session.  The rest is necessary boilerplate.

The initial pages are worth your reading time, especially if you'd like to get an idea of how the process works.  Remember, education is the spot where most of your real estate tax dollars get spent.

Specifically, the beginning of the meeting deals with swearing in the three board members who were elected in November:  Jeffrey Brookner, Jill Gladstone, and Lynne Hurley ran unopposed.  It's also the time when the new board elects its president and vice-president.

Board of Education Authorizes Settlement of Tenure Charges

Mr. Larry Markiewicz, shown here following
 a performance of the Rariitan Valley Symphonic
 Band,on April 10, 2011,  at the Bridgewater-
Raritan High School.

During the second open session of a special board meeting on the evening of September 17^th, Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education President Mr. Patrick Breslin was authorized to enter into an agreement with suspended High School music teacher Mr. Larry Markiewicz.

In June of this year, formal tenure charges were brought against Mr. Markiewicz by the now-retired Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Michael Schilder, for “conduct unbecoming of a teaching staff member.”  The Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education ratified those charges.

At the recent September 17^th special meeting, after the closed session was over, members of the BR-BOE reconvened in open session to hear board member Lynne Hurley read the following resolution:

Township to Vote on Resolution for School Resource Officer

Bridgewater Township Mayor Dan Hayes
addresses the audience at the January 7,
2013 township re-organization meeting
at the Municipal Complex.
 

At its regular meeting on Monday, July 1, the Bridgewater Township Council will consider a resolution which will have the effect of adding a second specially trained police officer as a full-time security presence on the campus-like facility of the Bridgewater-Raritan High School on Garretson Road.

The cost of the current on-site school resource officer (SRO) is being borne entirely by the Township.  At issue is the cost for a second SRO.

The township administration and the school board have tentatively agreed on a number for the cost of a second SRO to be paid for by the school district.

However, the township council has placed on the table consideration of a higher figure, as well as the expectation of a contractual time commitment from the school district.

New Election Process, New Board, New Faces

Thursday night, in the Wade Administration Building of the Bridgewater-Raritan School District, two newly elected Board Members, Jacqueline Barlow and Aaron Kurdyla, were sworn in to their three-year posts. 
 
Patrick Breslin, who was re-elected to another term, was selected by a unanimous vote of his colleagues to the post of Board President. 
 
Jill Gladstone, current board member, was elected by her peers to the position of Board Vice-President, with Lynne Hurley casting the only ‘nay’ vote.

Union Membership Votes to Ratify Labor Contract.

A bright autumn scene in my backyard this afternoon
may herald a deal this evening at the JFK Primary
School.  (Bergeron Image.)
 

In a conversation with Mr. Steve Beatty, President of the Bridgewater-Raritan Education Association shortly before 2:30 pm this afternoon, he advised me that the membership of the Bridgewater-Raritan Education Association was in the process of voting to ratify its Memorandum of Understanding with the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education.
 
Beatty further confirmed that the particulars of the proposed agreement currently before the BREA membership for acceptance are the same as those revealed to the public on this web site on Friday, October 12, in specific detail.
 
In support of that assessment, Beatty confirmed that all salary guides are now adjusted and that all contract language is in place, assuming their acceptance by the union membership.

Bridgewater-Raritan Schools & Union Work towards Ratifying Labor Agreement

Information obtained on condition of anonymity from sources with knowledge of the labor negotiations between the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education (BR-BOE) and the Bridgewater-Raritan Education Association (BREA) indicates that the agreement in progress consists of two contracts covering a period of four years. 

Union President Steve Beatty at the  10/09/12 BR-BOE Mtg.

The first-year agreement is “comprised of a one-year contract covering July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012 with a 0% increase and no change in language.” 

(Readers of The View from Bridgewater may recall that 2011-2012 represents the year in which the BR-BOE and the Administration in their budget presentations to the public at the time cited that they were “Coping with a massive decrease in state aid,” and that the budget “assumes no salary increases.”)

The second agreement calls for “A three-year contract covering July 1, 2012 through June 30, 2015 with increases of 2.9%, 2.9% and 2.9% and language changes and additions.”

Finally, Some Meat on the Bones.

I don’t know how it happened, but it did:  The Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education decided to lay its cards on the table about the status of labor negotiations with the teachers’ union, the Bridgewater-Raritan Education Association. 

Officials of the Bridgewater-Raritan Education
Association at the March 27, 2012 BR-BOE
Meeting in at the Wade Administration Building
in Martinsville.  (Bergeron Image)

It is a watershed moment.  Not in recent memory can I recall that the BR-BOE has ever done this.  Nor has the BREA.  Although there have been press releases from both parties and informative interviews with the media, much of the information provided has been piecemeal and incomplete.

The Board’s current disclosure of its own view of the situation was released on May 10^th in the form of “Frequently Asked Questions”.  This document has opened up a new line of communication with the public that I hope will continue. 

Up until this release, only the board and the union have been in the loop with full information.  Yet, it is the public that pays the bill.

Local Teacher Speaks Up

Kelly Hadfield, a 2nd grade teacher at the Van
Holten Primary school in Bridgewater reads from
a prepared text at the April 10th, 2012 meeting
of the BR-BOE meeting. 

As promised in my blog post of May 1st, I am presenting the full text of comments made by Kelly Hadfield, a second grade teacher at the Van Holten Primary School in Bridgewater. 

She conveyed her thoughts to the Bridgewater-Raritan Regional Board of Education during one of the public comment periods afforded by the agenda that evening.  Also, as promised, they are being shown without commentary on my part. 

Ms. Hadfield began as follows:

“I’m going to start off by saying I’ve wanted to be a teacher since I was 7 years old.  I have not and will never regret my decision and choice to become a New Jersey public school teacher.
 
However, never once did I think a teacher would have to put up with so much insensitivity and disrespect from people who claim to have the children’s needs first.

Differing Realities

On April 10^th, I attended a meeting of the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education at which its members deliberated upon and adopted a plan for relieving overcrowding at the Adamsville Primary School.  The solution was to move certain students and programs to the Hamilton Primary School which, conversely, has been operating below capacity.

Arvind Mathur offers his views on redistricting at the
April 10, 2012, meeting of the Bridgewater-Raritan
Board of Education.  (Bergeron Image)

Board members and the school administration were quick to point out that they would carefully monitor this change to see how well it works out.  Should adjustments or another wider approach to redistricting become necessary, the administration and the board will address the situation at that time.  The board as a whole was not comfortable with making any district-wide redistricting changes now.

What struck me the most, however, was not so much the discussion and resolution of the agenda item described above, but a subsequent statement on another topic delivered with force and passion to the full BR-BOE by a young teacher during one of the two periods reserved for the public to address board members.

A Few Thoughts about Salary Increases & Benefits

While reading through the two statements that were released to the public last night, one from the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education, and the other from its counterpart, the teachers’ union, I began to think of how upside down these negotiations must seem to anyone taking the time to read the press releases.
 
If you haven’t yet ploughed through them, please do so.  They are well worth the reading, I assure you.
 
Several thoughts occurred to me, as I was preparing to post the statements to this blog today:

·         These talks have gone on far too long.

·         The mediation sessions are a hindrance, not a help.

·         The average person with an average job would salivate at the offers which have been described in one of those press releases.

·         It’s time to kick out the mediator and to do what should have happened long ago:  Get in a room by yourselves, lock the door, and don’t come out until you have a deal.

·         Don’t forget to take it easy on the rest of us who have to pay the bills.

 
There is more, but I wanted to keep this post brief.

Education Association Expresses Dismay at Status of Negotiations

The statement below by representatives of the Bridgewater-Raritan Education Association was released last night.  It is presented in its entirety, and follows the Board of Education’s own statement also released yesterday on the status of negotiations.   

Talks have been ongoing since early last year, and both sides still appear to be deadlocked.  The board and the union are scheduled to enter into a fact-finding session in about three weeks, according to a statement made by BR-BOE President, Evan Lerner at last evening’s board meeting.

*********************************************

Bridgewater-Raritan Education Association, Excellence in Education

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:               Steve Beatty                                                                       March 27, 2012
                               (908) 672-4325

Mediator Sends BREA & BOE to Fact-Finding
As the hour got late at the last mediation between the negotiations teams representing the Bridgewater-Raritan Education Association and Bridgewater-Raritan BOE, the state appointed mediator at last declared that the two sides would not be able to settle and would be referred to a state appointed fact-finder.

“Sure we’re disappointed in this fact because we were cautiously optimistic after our face to face with the board a few weeks prior where we had a great chance to settle” said Steve Beatty, social studies teacher and president of the BREA.

Board of Education Discloses Details of Labor Negotiations

Below is the full text of the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education's press release of last evening.  It contains a series of best offers made to its teachers' union, the Bridgewater-Raritan Education Association, as well as the union’s responses.

The two parties have been negotiating unsuccessfully since early last year, have since engaged in formal mediation sessions, and are now deadlocked. They are scheduled to
enter into fact-finding in about three weeks.

***************************************************************

NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE

March 27, 2012

On March 15, 2012, the Board’s negotiation team participated in the third mediation session with the BREA’s negotiating team. The session lasted almost five hours. Unfortunately, the sides were unable to come to an agreement.

At the end of the session the mediator advised that he believed future mediation sessions were unlikely to lead to a settlement. As a result, per his referral, the parties will enter fact finding, the next stage in the legal process. It is anticipated that fact finding will commence in approximately three weeks. The fact finding process can last up to approximately six months.

Two issues dominated the back and forth of the parties during the three mediation sessions, instructional time requirements for high school teachers and salary.

Board Decides to Move School Election to November

FLASH REPORT: In a split five-to-three vote at its work session this evening, the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education moved to push the April election for school board candidates from April to November and to correspondingly strip away the vote on the school budget from the local electorate.

Bridgewater-Raritan schools parent Beth Fieseler kicks off a
presentation of the schools' Redistricting Task Force on
Tuesday evening, a previously anticipated event which,
although well-received, was largely overshadowed by a
board discussion and action eliminating the public's vote
on the school budget.

Voting in favor of this move were board members Evan Lerner, Jeffrey Brookner, Ann Marie Mead, Lynne Hurley, and Daniel Petrozelli who was recently appointed to fill the seat left vacant by the resignation of Anda Citroen. 

Those voting against eliminating the public’s ability to vote on the school ballot, and from moving the vote for school candidates from April to November were Jill Gladstone, Cindy Cullen, and Patrick Breslin.  Board member Dr. Arvind Mathur was absent, away on business.

Prior to the BR-BOE’s discussing and taking action on this matter, Mr. Lerner opened the meeting for public comment.  A majority of those who came to the microphone to express their opinion, including this writer, opposed eliminating the vote on the school budget, as well as the move to shift the election for school candidates to November.

Tuesday Night’s School Board Meeting (Feb. 14) could be Decisive

There is a great deal hanging on the eventual outcome of whether or not the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education should move the election of its school board members (including the annual fate of the budget) from April to November. 

Evan Lerner on Feb. 6, as he addresses the Bridgewater
Township Council concerning shifting the school
candidates election from April to November, and
eliminating the public vote on the school budget.
(Dick Bergeron Image)

The most critical impact that this change would have is that you, the voter, will be completely disenfranchised from casting your vote on the budget.  The second most critical impact is the possibility that having board candidates up for election in November might politicize the workings of the school board.

There has been no lack of strong, impassioned views by either side on those two issues.

The BR-BOE first discussed this topic on January 24^th at its meeting in the Wade Building.  Below are a few excerpts from those discussions.

Jill Gladstone:  “I don’t like this bill. I don’t think that it’s right to take the public’s vote away [from the budget,]” while adding that voting on it provides another check and balance on the process.  She emphasized that the legislation “was rushed through quickly . . . I think we should wait a year and see how it works out in other districts.”