Although the Haddonfield Board of Education meeting on Feb. 5 was brief, the board passed an important agreement. The board unanimously approved the teachers’ contracts for July 1, 2014, through June 30, 2017.
When the teachers’ contracts expired last July, it was a long struggle and process to come to an agreement that was mutually acceptable for both sides. The Haddonfield Education Association and the BOE negotiations team tried to come to a compromise themselves, but eventually decided to get a mediator in September.
After a meeting on Nov. 12, with the assistance of a mediator, both parties reached a tentative agreement on the terms and conditions of employment and signed a Memoranda of Agreement with salary increases of 2.7 percent for 2014–2015, 2.5 percent for 2015–2016 and 2.3 percent for 2016–2017.
The HEA ratified the proposed agreement in a previous meeting, and at the Feb. 5 meeting, it was the BOE’s turn to approve.
Before the vote was taken, Craig Wille, co-president of the HEA, spoke up to thank the BOE. He especially thanked the negotiations team.
“From the HEA, we wanted to publicly thank the board for all of their hard work with the association, in helping this come to full fruition tonight,” Wille said.
Board member Dennis Kelleher and board president Glenn Moramarco, both of the negotiations team, in turn, thanked the HEA for their cooperation.
“It was a pretty long process. We had a lot interesting meetings. Particularly, I would like to thank the HEA; your side has always maintained a professional level, and there was a lot of give and take, and I think that we came to an agreement that works for both sides,” Kelleher said.
“I would echo that and say that it was a really very productive series of discussions whenever we met. It wasn’t always easy, but I think we all approached it with an attitude of trying to meet a mutual goal, and I think frankly we did a good job,” Moramarco said.
Ultimately, the BOE unanimously approved the agreement. The room burst into a round of applause at both sides coming to a satisfactory agreement.
“When you have a negotiation, everyone doesn’t walk out with 100 percent of what they want. We felt very satisfied; I think the board was very satisfied. If both teams can walk away feeling that way, it’s good. Our membership, the HEA, passed the agreement and it was ratified with a large resounding majority. We feel good. It was a lot of hard work, but we’re very satisfied,” Wille said.
“It was a lot mutual cooperation, a lot of professionalism and a lot of respect I think from both sides. And I think that is what helped us at the end of the day,” Kelleher said.
The next Haddonfield BOE meeting will be at the HMHS library on Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. with regular action as well as to discuss the budget.
