Montauk Teachers Want a Contract

Some 20 teachers who have been working without a contract since July 1 sent the Montauk School Board a strong signal on Tuesday when they arrived at a board meeting wearing black T-shirts with “Montauk Teachers Association” emblazoned on them in white letters.

Laura Schilling, the president of the  association, read a statement at the meeting asking the board to continue to negotiate. This is the second time a contract wasn’t settled before it expired. “The teachers have always maintained a high level of professionalism in these uncertain times,” Ms. Schilling said in an email after the meeting.

“It is our hope that the board of education will recognize our value to our students and this community.”

The issue that has stymied negotiations is a longevity clause in the last contract that provided a 1-percent salary increase compounded when teachers were employed for at least 23 years by 2011. District officials have said they never intended teachers to continue receiving longevity pay.

 Twelve teachers who were affected filed a grievance notice with the New York State Public Employment Relations Board. They claim the longevity agreement, made with Diane Hausman, the school board president, and Judith Pfister, who was on the negotiating team, was clearly understood to mean that not only teachers who reached longevity by 2011 but those who served at least 23 years in subsequent years would receive the increase. They also say the clause was not supposed to sunset.

When school started in the fall, the teachers who were not allotted longevity pay asked the Montauk Teachers Association to represent them. In two cases, it was reported, the board had asked several teachers who did receive longevity pay to give it back.

Jack Perna, the district superintendent, and Ms. Hausman did not comment on the issue, saying they were not allowed to do so publicly.  

Also at Tuesday’s meeting it was announced that Jason Biondo, who resigned from the board in late January, would be reinstated as a board member through the end of this school year. He was not at Tuesday’s meeting, the fourth he has missed, while during the session, his wife, Lauren Biondo, was appointed a new substitute teacher.