Salary guide still unsettled

MARLBORO — Two months after Board of Education members and officials of the union that represents school employees announced they had agreed on a new contract, the deal has still not been voted on or signed by either side.

Following an all-night negotiating session on Nov. 16, a tentative agreement was announced between the board’s representatives and the Marlboro Township Education Association (MTEA). The agreement prevented a possible job action by teachers and other school district employees, who reported for work the next day.

No details of the contract, including the raises the union’s bargaining team may have negotiated or the length of the deal, have been made public. Representatives of both sides have said that information will be made public once the deal is voted on and signed by both parties.

As of this week, however, the two sides were still ironing out differences in the salary guide. Two-thirds of the MTEA membership and the board would need to vote on the contract after a final settlement is reached between the negotiating parties.

The MTEA represents about 575 teachers, secretaries, bus drivers, instructional assistants and library assistants in Marlboro’s K-8 school district. The union members have been working in the 2000-01 school year under the terms of a contract that expired June 30, 2000.

"The board and the union are trying to iron out an agreement on the distribution of the salary increase," said Dr. Terry Spilken, school board president.

Spilken said he is very hopeful that both sides can come to an agreement. The most recent meeting between the board and the MTEA was held on Jan. 20.

Before the Nov. 16 agreement was announced, the board and the MTEA were at odds over issues involving salaries and benefits. In a letter to Marlboro residents sent out while the contract was being negotiated, Spilken referred to health benefits as part of the cause of a deadlock.

It is not known what accommodations either side may have made relating to health benefits.

— Brian Walsh