BAYONNE – Bayonne residents, teachers, and union representative Alan D’Angelo used the June 26 Board of Education meeting to implore the board to solve the four-year-plus impasse over a new teachers’ contract.
About 250 people attended the last regular meeting of the board under the administration of Mayor Mark Smith in Bayonne High School’s Alexander X. O’Connor Auditorium. The administration of Mayor-elect James Davis will take over on Tuesday.
“I come in support of the teachers in this room,” said Rafael Augusto of Bayonne, who works in education in Jersey City and is a former freeholder candidate. “They need and deserve a contract.”
Former Bayonne councilwoman Mary Jane Desmond urged the board to come to an agreement with the union.
“I’m asking everyone to be on their good behavior and get it done,” she said.
Board President William Lawson said that part of the problem is that Bayonne is one of the most underfunded school districts in the state.
He also said that D’Angelo turned down a contract recommendation by a state arbiter.
“We went to a fact finder,” Lawson said. “You requested that.”
Board member Michael Masone said D’Angelo was misrepresenting the facts in the contract negotiations. –Joseph Passantino