The end may finally be in sight in negotiations between the Cherry Hill Board of Education and the Cherry Hill Education Association.
Both the board and CHEA announced last week they agreed to the recommendations of the state-appointed fact-finder in regard to the contract between the two parties.
CHEA announced in a statement on its Facebook page it accepted all the fact-finding recommendations in their entirety on Friday, Nov. 20.
Board of Education President Carol Matlack announced at last Tuesday night’s board of education meeting the board also accepted the fact-finder’s recommendations.
“As CHEA has done, we accept the fact-finding recommendations in principle,” Matlack said.
Matlack noted there was one procedural issue the board was waiting to hear back from CHEA on before the process would move forward.
“We are waiting to hear back from CHEA on a procedural issue,” Matlack said. “Further details on this procedural matter will be disclosed upon the release of the fact-finding report.”
The results of the fact-finding report were not available as of Wednesday. Matlack said the report would be released sometime in the week following the board meeting. Once released, the report will be available for review on the Cherry Hill Public Schools website, www.chclc.org. The two sides have 20 days after receiving the fact-finder’s report to reach a voluntary negotiated agreement, according to state law.
The CHEA and Cherry Hill Board of Education went before a state-appointed fact-finder on Sept. 3 after negotiations reached an impasse earlier this year. The two sides met multiple times in late 2014 and early 2015, but were unable to reach an agreement. Negotiations broke down between the two sides after a contentious negotiating session on June 1. This sent negotiations to a state appointed fact-finder. CHEA has been working without a contract since June 30, 2014.
