Back to drawing board? Teachers’ contract will find opposition

A new three-year contract for Hoboken’s educators is being scrutinized behind the scenes before it even comes up for a vote.

According to sources, the pay raise included in the contract is between 5 and 6 percent, and some critics believe this can only be reconciled with significant givebacks.

A vote on the contract was stalled because board members Frank Raia and Phil DeFalco were awaiting determinations from the state’s School Ethics Commission on possible conflicts of interest. The school board asked the state in June whether there was a conflict because Raia was helping negotiate the contract and DeFalco would have to vote on the finished version. Both board members had financial ties to certain teachers or the teachers’ union.

The district recently received the decision from the commission and, according to Superintendent Jack Raslowsky, both school board members were cleared by the commission of any conflicts due to their business affairs.

Raslowsky and Board Attorney Joseph Morano handled the negotiations with the teachers’ union and presented the board Negotiations Committee a contract after the April school board elections. The committee included Raia, DeFalco, and board member Anthony Romano.

In April, Raia and Romano signed onto a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the union that agrees to the terms of the contract.
DeFalco is also a member of the committee, but he had recused himself from the negotiations due to his representation of several teachers at his accounting firm on Washington Street.

The teachers’ union has its headquarters in a building that Raia developed.

The binding nature of the MOA was in doubt until the determination on Raia’s involvement was clear.

Now, according to school officials, the MOA is official and Raia and Romano are legally bound to vote in favor of the contract due to their signing of the memo.

The other seven
Other members of the board are in opposition to the contracts terms, and one source said the Negotiations Committee may have been misled on some of the points of the contract before the MOA was signed.

Raslowsky said he kept the board as a whole abreast of the negotiations as they went on.

“My understanding is that everyone has seen it,” he said.

Board member Carmelo Garcia said he never actually saw the contract, but, “There are issues pending and we need to address them as a whole board.”

“We appreciate the teachers’ work and believe they deserve equitable pay,” he added, but said the board needed to review the work of the committee and the negotiators.

Board members Rose Marie Markle, Theresa Minutillo, and Carrie Gilliard have been vocal critics of the administration.

Minutillo and Markle have claimed that Raslowsky wouldn’t supply them with a copy of the contract when they served as members of the Negotiations Committee before the April election. He said they still couldn’t get it following the reorganization.

Board member Jim Farina must abstain on the vote because his wife is a school employee, leaving DeFalco and board president Frances Rhodes-Kearns as the other deciding factors.

Many members of the board had lingering questions about the contract but said they could not speak openly about them due to the sensitive nature of the negotiations.

Ethics clarification
DeFalco penned his letter to the commission and was cleared of any conflicts that might have come from having teachers as clients in his private business.

Raslowsky signed and sent Raia’s letter to the commission – something Raia said through a representative is a part of Raslowsky’s “job description” – and was also cleared of any conflict of interest.

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“There are issues pending and we need to address them as a whole board.”

– Carmelo Garcia
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Ethics questions about board members are nothing new. Garcia was reprimanded in 2005 for voting on a job for his brother and a contract for a politically connected public relations firm, although he later said that both items were part of a long list of agenda items he voted on.

Former board member Michele Russo was censured in 2001 for using school mailing lists to send out campaign mailers.

Finer points
Enrico said last week that he expected the administration to call a special meeting – possibly this week – to address the contract.

He said it will be “very serious” if it doesn’t pass.

“We’d have to assess where we’re at,” Enrico said. “We’d be back at square one.”

Two things not reported to be in the contract are co-pays for health care and a teacher-paid prescription drug plan for one year.

Administration and custodial workers are also still in negotiations and are reportedly due to receive raises closer to 3.5 percent.

For questions or comments on this story, e-mail tcarroll@hudsonreporter.com.

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