Still operating without a contract since the end of the 2001 school year and with contract negotiations already at a formally declared impasse, the members of the Guttenberg Education Association are anticipating their next state-appointed mediation session, aimed at finding a solution to what has become a very heated working environment.
According to GEA President Cheryl Spirig, the teachers’ union decided, upon the advice of the state-appointed mediator Lorraine Tesauro, not to picket before a recent Board of Education meeting, nor to pack the meeting with its nearly 90 members.
“We have been picketing and packing each meeting since we started with negotiations with the board,” Spirig said. “However, after the first mediation session [January 23], Ms. Tesauro said that whatever we were doing must be working, because they don’t like it. So she said that she was encouraging us not to do it again. I didn’t understand that if she said it was working, then why not continue? Many others felt the same way. But she said it was letting the mediation process work.”
So at the last Board of Education meeting last week, the members of the GEA did not picket. However, Spirig said that she wanted to let the board know why they were not picketing during the public portion of the meeting.
But the board announced during the meeting that remarks made by the members of the public would be strictly limited to items that appeared on the agenda. So Spirig and other members of her association were not permitted to speak.
“It’s very frustrating,” Spirig said. “We haven’t been going anywhere and it’s why we declared an impasse in the first place. We’re spinning our wheels and going nowhere here. And now, we’re at the mercy of the mediator, who tells us not to picket, but then we’re not allowed to tell anyone why we’re not. It was like getting the door slammed in our faces. It really was uncalled for.”
Added Spirig, “We understand that they are legally within their rights, but in so limiting the topics on which they could be addressed, they blocked the free expression of the citizens and educators of this district. We believe this to have been a curtailment of freedom of speech. All public bodies ought to be responsible and responsive to the citizens who elected them to office.”
Board of Education attorney John Schettino did not return phone calls at press time. The Board of Education members and officials have been advised not to comment on the contract negotiations.
GEA vice-president Donna Gryzbowski said that she wanted to address the board over the situation involving former Parent-Teacher Organization president Jeanie Sosnowski’s apparent removal from volunteering her services, but was not given the chance.
“That was a slap in the face,” Gryzbowski said. “As the student council advisor, I wanted to say that Mrs. Sosnowski was involved with a lot of activities and was very helpful to us. I was going to ask the Board to reconsider what they did and allow her to come back. But I never got the chance.”
Added Gryzbowski, “I’m a social studies teacher and I teach our children about living in a land of freedom and freedom of speech, using our First Amendment rights. Here, we can’t even exercise those rights and speak, simply because it’s something unpleasant. Now, I’m afraid these kids will view this as a contradiction.”
Both long-time teachers have reached their wit’s end over the longest contract negotiation in the school’s history.
“It’s really frustrating,” Gryzbowski said. “We have a hard working staff that is willing to give more than 100 percent. We’re willing to give of our extra time. We’re professionals, but we’re not being treated as such. I’m discouraged, because it’s forcing us to act in a way we’re not comfortable with. We still love the kids and that’s a positive thing. But the other things take away. The kids see us wearing the black shirts and they know something’s not right.”
As a sign of unity, the members of the GEA wear their black collared shirts to work on Wednesdays.
“I’m sorry, but we’re making a stand and we’re not backing down,” said Gryzbowski, who has taught at Anna L. Klein School for the last 25 years. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but let’s just say we’re running out of options. People are now angry. Something has to break at this next meeting. I feel like we’re begging and that’s demeaning. But we’re begging for what we deserve.”‘
The members of the GEA are looking to simply be paid on a parallel with neighboring school districts. Currently, Guttenberg teachers are paid the lowest average salary ($36,000) in Hudson County.
The next negotiation session between the GEA, the Board of Education and Tesauro is slated for Wednesday.
“Hopefully, some mediation will happen,” Spirig said. “Hopefully, this session is fruitful. It may be too hopeful to think that we can come away from the session with a settlement. It’s time to put something firm on the table that we can all agree upon.”
One thing is for sure. If no settlement is reached, then Spirig and her troops will be in full force – and plan on being vocal – at the next Board of Education meeting March 13.
Teachers’ union members were prohibited from speaking at the last Board of Education meeting.