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Woodstock Times - Featured News | 10/8/2009 |
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Emotions running high
School board in exec session as Onteora teachers and staff picket again |
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| | Teachers and staff on the picket line.
[ Lisa Childers ] | |
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by Lisa Childers
The Onteora teachers and non-teachers contract dispute continues. Hundreds of picketers including retired teachers and teachers from schools throughout the area joined the ranks and marched with Onteora teachers in front of the Middle/High School, all leading up to the Tuesday October 6 school board meeting at the Boiceville site that was set to begin at 6 p.m. The marchers silently entered the High School cafeteria in order to address the school board as the venue had earlier been changed from Bennett Elementary to the High School in order to accommodate the mass of people. But the board never showed up at the 6 p.m. start time. The crowd silently waited 15 minutes, when Union leader Corey Cavallaro spoke in anger. "This is why we are two years without a contract - there is absolutely zero respect for us tonight. They knew - the board and superintendent - that we were going to be here tonight at six o'clock and this is how they treated us, not me - us." Cavallaro spoke to the crowd who no longer stood silently, but clapped loudly and cheered with the intention to be heard down the hall where they thought the school board sat in executive session. "Over the past two years," Cavallaro said, "the district has done nothing to promote labor relations. As a matter of fact the district's desperate attempt to bargain directly with the OTA membership failed completely." Cavallaro said the move "sowed seeds of distrust..." He accused the board of stalling. "That behavior is unacceptable!" he said. Speaking over loud eruptions of cheering he asked the board for respect of the negotiations and of the process as a whole. He said this would be the last time he would speak in front of the board. The crowd of teachers clapping loudly, filed out of the cafeteria.
At 7 p.m. the board entered into public session. School board president Laurie Osmond immediately made a public statement. "I want to make a point. This is a new board, three of us are new to the board within 14 months, four of us in less than six months. This board respects our teachers and our staff. This summer this board replaced the negotiating attorney with our district attorney who has decades of successful experience with Onteora." Osmond continued, "The two parties met last night, including our newly appointed attorney and three board members who were at the table." She said they want to resolve the negotiations "as quickly and fairly as possible."
In a separate phone conversation, Osmond explained that during Cavallaro's speech the board was in the Central Office discussing negotiations and it went overtime. They did not hear the clapping. Although she knew that the site of the meeting was changed to fit all the teachers, she was under the impression that they were going to stay for the initial public commentary session. Cavallaro was slated to speak at 7:20 p.m. Osmond said, "I apologize that executive session ran late." She said their intention was not out of disrespect and they are working as quickly as possible to be brought up to speed.
In a separate interview, Cavallaro explained that three board members, Trustees Anne MacGillicuddy, Tom Hickey and Osmond met with the union and negotiating team. When Cavallaro was asked if Monday's meeting proved fruitful he said, "If it were promising we wouldn't be doing what we are doing tonight."
Budget preparations
The school board agreed to send one or two of its trustees to help oversee budgeting with Superintendent Leslie Ford and Interim Business administrator Don Gottlieb. Ford said that before Assistant Superintendent for Business Victoria McLaren went out on maternity leave, they were having preliminary budget discussions over financial concerns. "Some issues are about our retirement benefits," said Ford, "the cost of changes in our salary, including salary and that would include looking at our health cost that we know will be increasing." Ford is also concerned over State budget cuts. "We don't know what all of this means in our budget, but I am seeking some direction from the board to give the cabinet some means to go forward to begin and look at all different areas to organize and we can begin to work on all of this."
Gottlieb said, "Typically what we try to do or at least the districts I have been involved in, is not to entertain cuts from the beginning. The goal is to provide the best possible education that you can for children. However you as a board have a unique position in that you have to be concerned with not only the program, but you have to be concerned about taxpayers." Voters will choose to support the budget or not in May, 2010.
Bus safety
Bus drivers who transport high school students to BOCES for vocational training complained to the school board following incidences of unruly student behavior that they believed went unchecked. According to Transportation Director Dave Moraca, part of the problem is when drivers write up referrals, there appears to be a communication breakdown between the driver and the district. The drivers are not aware if any disciplinary actions were taken. "Sometimes the only gage we have is if the student behavior improves," Moraca said. The board requested that the district improve its line of communication with Moraca who will forward information to his drivers.
On two occasions bus drivers heading to BOCES were stopped by police because of unruly student behavior. In one incident a student threw trash out the window landing on a police car and in another a student opened an emergency exit door. There has also been damage done to bus seats. Moraca said he would like to get more cameras to install on buses for monitoring, but he currently does have one bus at his disposal for problem routes. ++
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