REA - Page 10 of 11 - THE RIDGEWOOD BLOG.

Posted on February 13, 2016 June 27, 2021

Ridgewood BOE highlights memorandum

FEBRUARY 12, 2016 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2016, 12:31 AM
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

BOE highlights memorandum

Click here to read the Fact Finding Report between the Ridgewood Board of Education and the REA dated February 3, 2016.

To the Editor,

At our Feb. 8 Board of Education meeting, our teachers voiced concerns about the unsettled contract and the Board’s recent proposal. It was evident that the information they were given about the Board’s proposal was incorrect.

The Board and the Ridgewood Education Association Negotiations committees have met 12 times since February 2015. Unfortunately, we have failed to settle the contract. On Wednesday, Feb. 3, a hearing was held before the state-appointed Fact-finder. At the hearing, the Board summarized its position and the current proposal in a memorandum. The bullet points below highlight the key areas discussed in our memorandum. The full memorandum can be found on the District’s website at ridgewood.k12.nj.us.

Key areas in the Board’s Fact-finding memorandum:

The Board has based its negotiating position on the realities of a state law, Chapter 44, which limits local school boards to annual property tax increases of no more than two percent over the previous year’s dollar amounts, with some limited exceptions.

Ridgewood teacher salaries are at, or near the top of, salaries paid for similarly qualified staff in other Bergen County school districts.

The Board currently spends over $7 million per year, or approximately 74 percent of the premium bill, for REA health benefits. The Board has not proposed to increase the teachers’ share of the health benefit premiums.

Health benefit premiums have increased on average by 10 percent annually for the past 10 years.

The Board has proposed changing the health benefits plan within the current provider program (the School Employees Health Benefits Plan) to one with higher co-pays — $10 doctor visit co-pay in the current plan rising to $15 per primary care doctor visit and $25 for specialists — as a way to save both the District and teachers on premium costs.

Breakage, or any savings due to retirements, is not a reasonable way to fund a settlement. Historically, the Board has spent any such savings on new hires or on salary increases for existing teachers as they complete graduate courses and higher education degrees.

State aid for rapidly rising special education costs has decreased in the last three years.

The District’s architect and engineering firm completed a facility review and recommended facility upgrades/repairs of approximately $40 million. The capital reserve account balance as of June 30, 2015 was $1,018,989, far short of what is needed to update our 11 buildings constructed between 1894 and 1965.

Many of the comments from teachers were critical of the Board and mischaracterized us as uncaring and indifferent. The Board values our staff. We would never see our teachers as “numbers on a spreadsheet.” We are well aware of the work our staff does and that it is this work that makes Ridgewood the excellent district that it is. The Board is committed to negotiating a fair contract with the REA that can be funded within the District’s financial ability.

Sheila Brogan

Jim Morgan

Vince Loncto

Christina Krauss

Jennie Smith Wilson

Ridgewood Board of Education

https://www.northjersey.com/opinion/opinion-letters-to-the-editor/ridgewood-news-letter-boe-highlights-memorandum-1.1510836

Posted on February 12, 2016 February 12, 2016

Voices heard at podium during Ridgewood BOE meeting

FEBRUARY 12, 2016 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2016, 12:31 AM
BY MATTHEW SCHNEIDER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

RIDGEWOOD – A large number of teachers once again took the stand during Monday’s Board of Education (BOE) meeting, enumerating the various reasons why they feel a fair contract must be reached between the BOE and Ridgewood Education Association (REA).

Despite protracted negotiations, an agreement still has yet to be hammered out, causing much concern on both sides.

Although the BOE has continuously said that it values its educators and recognizes the necessity of their work, many teachers remain unconvinced.

Some, like Kim Casey, of Travell Elementary School, said they still feel like they are only figures on a spreadsheet.

“To you, I am merely a number,” she stated. “To you I am merely … the numbers of years I have before retirement, when you can fill my position with a younger teacher who won’t cost the taxpayers as much money.”

Others, like teacher Andrea Petron, of Ridge Elementary School, said they feel like teachers are an indispensible part of Ridgewood schools, and that the BOE has not treated them fairly.

“After pouring our hearts and souls into the district, it is important to know that we are appreciated and respected for the work we do,” she said. “Education is not a business, and it should not be treated as such.

“Teachers literally create every profession in the world,” she continued. “Teaching is the fundamental basis of every facet of society. It is time for you to start treating us like the rest of the world could not go on without us, including Ridgewood.”

https://www.northjersey.com/news/education/voices-heard-at-podium-during-boe-meeting-1.1510977

Posted on February 11, 2016 February 11, 2016

Ridgewood district, teachers remain locked in contract battle

FEBRUARY 10, 2016, 6:49 PM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2016, 6:57 PM
BY STEVE JANOSKI
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

RIDGEWOOD — The Board of Education and the Ridgewood Education Association remain locked in their inability to come to terms on a new teachers’ contract, despite the efforts of a state-appointed fact finder.

Members of the REA, cloaked in red to show solidarity, crowded into a school board meeting Monday night for the second time this month to decry the lack of progress in negotiations. Although there are numerous points of contention, the sharpest disagreement has come over how much REA members must contribute to their health-insurance premiums.

REA President Michael Yannone, a 19-year veteran of Ridgewood High School, said Monday the board’s position in a Feb. 3 fact-finding meeting was reduced to two points: The district had no additional money to spend on teacher salaries, and no other New Jersey school district had agreed to a reduction in healthcare contributions, because that would be “unaffordable.”

Yannone said neither was true. A number of districts had negotiated reductions in healthcare contributions, he said, and an influx of state aid and health contribution money — combined with under-budgeting in certain areas — had led to a sizable surplus in the local school budget.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/ridgewood-district-teachers-remain-locked-in-contract-battle-1.1509346

Posted on February 6, 2016 February 6, 2016

Reader says Stalled Ridgewood Teacher Contract talks all about the greed of the REA and their full-time paid lawyers and lobbyists from the NJEA

Let’s be very clear about this, this is all about the money and the greed of the REA and their full-time paid lawyers and lobbyists from the NJEA. They are trying to squeeze more blood out of Ridgewood taxpayers for what are already among the most expensive teacher salaries and health benefits in the entire nation That’s right, we pay $100M a year for our public schools in a Village of 25,000 people. If they don’t like paying for their health benefits then they are welcome to get a job in the private sector or another school district.

The BoE must not roll over here despite the threats, bullying and personal and vindictive attacks they are facing from the REA/NJEA. As Bob knows personally, these bullies are not negotiating in good faith, they are trying to squeeze as much as they can from taxpayers. The education of our children is the furthest thing from their minds.

Posted on February 6, 2016 February 6, 2016

Ridgewood Education Association held a rally outside the Board of Education building

FEBRUARY 5, 2016 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2016, 12:31 AM
BY MATTHEW SCHNEIDER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

RIDGEWOOD – Amidst driving rain, members of the Ridgewood Education Association (REA) held a rally outside the village’s education building Wednesday afternoon, hoping to encourage REA President Mike Yannone as he re-entered negotiations with the Ridgewood Board of Education (BOE) and a state-appointed fact-finder.

“This is unbelievable,” Yannone said as he watched the teachers marching around in the downpour. “I didn’t think anybody would be here.”

However, upon further reflection, Yannone noted that the “frustration level of the teachers of this town is really high,” and that a “little rain isn’t going to stop them from coming out.”

The members of the REA, marching around shouting “settle now,” say they feel they have not received a fair contract offer from the BOE, as the proposal does not address their concerns about healthcare contributions.

“We’re still dealing with the same proposal they gave us 11 months ago,” Yannone said, adding that in negotiations, “Two sides have to be willing to come in here and compromise.

“Both sides have to be willing to give to get,” he continued. “We’ve had that approach all the way through.”

https://www.northjersey.com/news/education/despite-downpour-teachers-stand-up-1.1506700

Posted on February 5, 2016 February 5, 2016

Michael Yannone President, Ridgewood Education Association : A “fair” settlement is when both sides give to get

Contract discussions continue

FEBRUARY 5, 2016 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2016, 12:31 AM
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

Contract discussions continue

To The Editor,

Last week the Ridgewood Board of Education used this space to comment on the status of negotiations with the Ridgewood Education Association. In their statement they stated that they recently presented to us “a new and comprehensive proposal”. The village should know that this was not the case.

The major issue before us is health care contributions that is no secret every time both sides meet that is all we talk about. Almost 200 teachers came to last Monday’s BOE meeting because of this issue with 20 of them speaking personally and passionately on this topic. The board’s “new and comprehensive” proposal on this issue has not changed in 11 months, they have offered nothing new. Their continued solution is to provide teachers with a level of health care that would be the worst of any district in the state. The only savings found in this plan are on the Board’s end any savings for teachers quickly evaporate once the plan is used. They would do nothing to lower the crushing costs of contribution levels.

Again we heard about 2 percent caps on their budget. The district has money in its $101 million budget, they just prioritize its use elsewhere: additional administrators, paid speakers and consultants, fancy furniture, and yes ebooks for elementary aged children who don’t have Chromebooks just to name a few. At Monday’s meeting they announced that they were allocating $970,000 for technology in next year’s budget. But there is no money to settle this contract?

What I found most interesting in the Board’s statement was the use of quotation marks around the word fair as if this is a foreign concept that has no place in the discussion. Good faith negotiations require compromise. A “fair” settlement is when both sides give to get. The REA understands this and has been willing to give in other areas of the contract. We have repeatedly pitched creative concepts to reach a middle ground and have been rebuffed at every step with no counter proposal offered. Their statement reads as if they have actually engaged in back and forth negotiations, when in fact they have yet to offer anything new and substantial for our team to consider. Successful negotiations can not be one sided, and right now the REA feels like we are simply talking to ourselves.

It should come as no surprise that we find ourselves in this impasse as this Board has stated publicly that they are against the rights of teachers to collectively bargain. The Ridgewood Board of Education doesn’t want “fair”, they want it all.

Michael Yannone

President, Ridgewood Education Association

https://www.northjersey.com/opinion/opinion-letters-to-the-editor/ridgewood-news-letter-contract-discussions-continue-1.1506617

Posted on February 2, 2016 June 27, 2021

Public Employees time for Obamacare ?

Law’s expiration may renew battle over benefits
February 2,2016

PLEASANTVILLE, N.J. (AP) — A state law requiring public employees to pay a percentage of their health benefit premiums expired last year, setting the stage for a battle over benefits between school boards and teachers unions.

At issue is whether school boards will be able to maintain those payments during contract negotiations or whether the unions will have the clout to roll them back, The Press of Atlantic City reported ().

At stake are millions of dollars that ultimately would be passed on to local taxpayers. Statewide, school districts budgeted almost $4 billion for all employee benefits for the 2015-16 school year.

That represents almost 18 percent of all state aid and local taxes spent on education.

Steve Baker, director of communications for the New Jersey Education Association, wrote in an email that they expect many local unions will make the payment an important part of their negotiations.

“Different locals will pursue different strategies, but I think you should expect to see that issue raised in nearly all negotiations once the sunset is reached,” Baker said.

The New Jersey School Boards Association is advising members to expect that request. In a November memo, NJSBA manager of labor relations Patrick Duncan noted that in the last year prior to the law, only 13 percent of contracts analyzed by the NJSBA required any employee contribution.

https://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2016/01/31/laws-expiration-may-renew-battle-over_ap.html

Posted on February 1, 2016 February 1, 2016

The Ridgewood Board of Education will hold a Regular Public Meeting on Monday, February 8, 2016

BOARD UPDATES

BOE-REA Negotiations
Click here to read a Letter to the Editor of The Ridgewood News, which appeared in the paper on January 29, 2016.

BOE Meets on February 8 at 7:30 p.m.
The Ridgewood Board of Education will hold a Regular Public Meeting on Monday, February 8, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.

The public is invited to attend the meeting at the Ed Center, 49 Cottage Place, Floor 3. The meeting may also be viewed on FiOS channel 33, Optimum channel 77 or from computers via the “Live BOE Meeting” tab on the district website.FiOS channel 33, Optimum channel 77 or from computers via the “Live BOE Meeting” tab on the district website.

Click here to view the agenda for the January 25, 2016 Regular Public Meeting.

Click here to view the minutes of the December 21, 2015 Regular Public Meeting.

Click here to view the minutes of the January 4, 2016 Reorganization/Regular Public Meeting.

Posted on January 30, 2016 January 30, 2016

Ridgewood School Board says they are ‘committed’ to settling contract

Board ‘committed’ to settling contract

JANUARY 29, 2016 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JANUARY 29, 2016, 12:31 AM
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

Board ‘committed’ to settling contract

to the editor:

At Monday’s Board of Education meeting, 20 Ridgewood teachers spoke at the podium. They spoke passionately about their love of teaching and their deep commitment to our children. With pride, they enumerated the educational opportunities that Ridgewood provides and acknowledged the exceptional quality of our district. They implored the Board to reach a “fair” settlement and expressed their frustration that the contract remained unsettled.

The Board is sympathetic to the concerns expressed by our teachers and shares the desire to complete negotiations as quickly as possible. The Board has made every effort to listen to the union’s concerns and address them.

On Jan. 20 at our last negotiation session, the Board made a new comprehensive proposal that would have increased the take-home pay of every teacher through a combination of salary increases and revisions to the health care plans offered to the REA members. The Board also offered to discuss several ideas to ameliorate the impact of the 35 percent employee health care premium contributions paid by the highest paid staff.

These proposals address the teachers’ primary concerns while staying within the district’s financial capabilities.

Some of the teachers’ comments questioned Ridgewood Public Schools’ spending on improving curriculum, professional development, technology and eBooks in our elementary school libraries. While our teachers and the work they do are key to making Ridgewood the superior district that it is, we know that their jobs would be exponentially more challenging if they did not have new and improved textbooks, revised curriculum and the technology enhancements such as Chromebooks.

As the Board of Education, we are committed to balancing these competing costs and the need to continue to deliver a well-balanced educational program to our students. With the state-imposed hard cap that restricts district property tax revenue increases to 2 percent or less of the prior year taxes, this is a very tough assignment.

We have had numerous meetings with the REA team and are willing to meet at any time to negotiate all components of the contract.

In the meantime, we will move forward to fact-finding. Next week, both sides will have the opportunity to submit their positions, arguments and exhibits to an independent, state-appointed fact-finder. We expect the fact-finder to issue his non-binding recommendations by the end of April.

This Board is committed to settling an equitable new contract that treats our teachers fairly, is respectful of the taxpayers and maintains the financial integrity of the district. Most importantly, we want to end the unrest that drains our staff’s energy so that they can focus on the important job of teaching our children, which is something that they do exceptionally well.

We are united with the teachers in the goal of continuing Ridgewood’s “Tradition of Excellence.”

Sheila Brogan

Vince Loncto

Jim Morgan

Christina Krauss

Jennie Smith Wilson

Ridgewood Board of Education

https://www.northjersey.com/opinion/opinion-letters-to-the-editor/ridgewood-news-letter-board-committed-to-settling-contract-1.1501661

Posted on January 29, 2016 January 29, 2016

Ridgewood school board, union fail to reach settlement

JANUARY 29, 2016 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JANUARY 29, 2016, 12:31 AM
BY MATTHEW SCHNEIDER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

The Ridgewood Board of Education (BOE) and Ridgewood Education Association (REA) have failed to reach a settlement despite protracted negotiations, BOE President Sheila Brogan reported during a meeting on Monday.

The two sides met on Jan. 20, and the main sticking point continued to be healthcare contributions. A new proposal presented by the school board was rejected by the REA.

Brogan said the “comprehensive” proposal addressed issues that had been raised during previous negotiation sessions and modified the district’s “original proposal in a number of significant ways.”

“Our offer was designed to address the REA’s goal of increasing the actual take-home pay of its members without jeopardizing the district’s financial position,” Brogan said.

“The REA did not respond with a comprehensive proposal of their own,” she continued. “They chose to focus only on the amounts their members contribute towards their healthcare benefits.”

REA members, however, believe that the BOE did not make a real effort to come up with terms that would be acceptable to both parties. They also said a counteroffer was not seriously considered by the board.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/education/meeting-fails-to-yield-settlement-1.1501672

Posted on January 10, 2016 January 9, 2016

Christie: Teachers union ‘single most destructive force’ in education

By Bradford Richardson

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) says real education reform is impossible as long as teachers unions remain a powerful force for the status quo.

“The single most destructive force for public education in this country is the teachers union,” Christie said at a Jack Kemp Foundation panel discussion in Columbia, S.C., on Saturday. “It is the single most destructive force.”

The Republican presidential candidate called the labor groups an “absolute subsidiary of the Democratic Party.”

“In New Jersey alone, the teachers union has 200,000 members, and they collect mandatory dues of $730 per person per year,” he said. “That’s $140 million that the teachers union just in New Jersey collects a year, and they pay nothing toward teacher salary, teacher pension or teachers healthcare.

“It’s a $140 million political slush fund to be able to reward their friends and punish their enemies,” he added. “Now imagine that kind of force and it’s replicated in state after state after state in this country.”

Christie said Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton is “bought and paid for” by the unions. Clinton has been endorsed by the National Education Association, the largest labor union in the nation.

The governor also called the current mode of education “obsolete” and said schools need to incorporate innovative technologies into the classroom.

https://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/gop-primaries/265324-christie-teachers-union-single-most-destructive-force-in

Posted on January 6, 2016 April 9, 2020

A look at the methods used when it comes to new contracts for teachers in parts of Bergen County

DECEMBER 31, 2015 LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2015, 10:51 AM
BY CAITLYN BAHRENBURG AND ROBERT CHRISTIE
STAFF WRITER |
NORTHERN VALLEY SUBURBANITE

Teachers were tired of being insulted, Old Tappan Education Association President Matt Capilli said.

So, residents, students and faculty members gathered up their signs and congregated outside of the Charles De Wolf Middle School to picket in act of solidarity with the union.

The Old Tappan teachers’ union, like many others across the state, entered the new academic year without a contract.

According to statistics provided by the New Jersey School Boards Association, which “provides training, advocacy and support to advance public education and the achievement of all students through effective governance” according to its website, almost one-third of the 579 public school districts in New Jersey started the year in the same position as Old Tappan. In Bergen County, 12 district started the year without a contract.

“Negotiations are difficult everywhere right now, so I think it’s really important to show support for our brother and sister school districts,” said Jim McGuire, president of the Northern Valley Education Association, the union that represents the educators at the regional high schools in Demarest and Old Tappan.

McGuire was one of many supporters at an Old Tappan Rally Nov. 17 to show support for the teachers and urge the local board of education to reach a deal with its unionized staff.

But, McGuire’s comment was visible in several districts in the region that did not have contracts for its unionized teachers.

Before reaching an agreement in November, the Tenafly Education Association boycotted the district’s annual Back to School Nights in September.

The nights give parents a chance to meet wit their children’s teachers.

Tenafly Education Association president, Jackie Wellman, said the boycott was meant to send a message to the district.

“A program is rendered useless when quality staff is missing,” said Wellman, who is a teacher at the Stillman Elementary School in Tenafly, in a previous interview with the Northern Valley Suburbanite explaining the reasons behind the boycotts.

Unions took other steps to highlight its memberships’ displeasure with not having a contract.

These job action tactics, said Ridgewood Education Association President Michael Yannone, are the result of a change in options teachers or districts have to reach a new deal when working under an expired contract.

“Back in the day, the threat of a strike for both sides was a good thing,” Yannone said.

Strikes by public employees, including teachers, have been illegal in New Jersey since the 1960s, though, private employees can strike, with the understanding that their actions remain legal.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/education/taking-the-message-to-the-public-1.1483315

Posted on December 12, 2015 June 27, 2021

Ridgewood Teachers deserve praise; taxpayers deserve a break

DECEMBER 11, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015, 12:31 AM
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

Teachers deserve praise; taxpayers deserve a break

To the Editor:

We will try this again as what one hears cannot be generalized due to individualization. Here is my rebuttal to Michael Yannone’s letter in last week’s Ridgewood News:

1. Ridgewood teachers are paid in the upper percentile/s in the U.S. The starter salary accelerates due to various degree/s, and additional credits, etc. Fine; they are appreciated for a job well done and deserved. My point is: this is an expensive benefit paid for by the taxpayer.

2. About 10 to 15 percent of private company employees receive a traditional pension as the teachers. Calculated individually (as all pension), it “significantly exceeds” the corporate-sector pension. Fine, it is earned so enjoy. My point is: this is an expensive benefit paid for by the taxpayer.

3. U.S. companies offer lower-cost healthcare provider plans than the state teacher’s plan/s. Their “premium” plan/s have always been more generous so private company employees married to NJ teachers use the NJ state plan as their primary provider for themselves and their families both before Medicare or with Medicare as their secondary provider. Fine; my point is: this is an expensive benefit paid for by the taxpayer.

4. NJ teachers receive two paid days in November for a teacher convention whether they attend or not. Fine; this is built into their compensation/time calendar. A minimal amount of teachers attend the state convention repeatedly and not the majority. My point is: this was not the intention when this was originated.

5. U.S. companies are diligently saving money by eliminating employee benefits by contracting out work, outsourcing, mergers and down-sizing. Employees in the private sector pay for their annual escalating healthcare costs as do retirees before and with Medicare. My point is: teachers are not getting slighted by having to pay higher healthcare costs; this is the new norm due to Obamacare, designer drugs, and an aging population. This is not a one-time deal.

6. Companies get rid of older workers when they become too expensive unlike education. Fine; thank you for your continued, dedication. It is appreciated due to number of years worked. My point is: this is an expensive benefit paid for by the taxpayer.

7. The NJ taxpayer cannot afford to pay teachers their annual percentage raises along with their escalating healthcare costs as a benefit as was done in the past. Teachers are significantly more highly compensated with their benefit package than non-state, non-unionized workers.

8. NJ is going bankrupt due to pension and other obligations. People are leaving this state and purchasing out-of-state properties and claiming those places as their primary residence so they can eliminate the “choking” taxes of NJ. They then move to those second homes to retire.

9. The New Jersey Education Association and some (not all) of its members have been very vociferous about their hatred for Gov. Christie. I am not his fan but I do feel he did what was a long overdue necessity. He did a “reality check.”

Janis Belcher

Ridgewood

https://www.northjersey.com/opinion/opinion-letters-to-the-editor/ridgewood-news-letter-teachers-deserve-praise-taxpayers-deserve-a-break-1.1472091

BOE Meets on December 21 at 7:30 p.m.
The Ridgewood Board of Education will hold a Regular Public Meeting on Monday, December 21, 2015, at 7:30 p.m.

Click here to view the agenda for the December 7,, 2015 Regular Public Meeting.

Click here to view the minutes of the November 16, 2015 Regular Public Meeting.

11.23.15: Board of Education Writes Letter to the Editor
Click here to read a Letter to the Editor of the Ridgewood News, which was published on November 20, 2015

Posted on November 28, 2015 November 27, 2015

Ridgewood Teachers should be thankful

NOVEMBER 27, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2015, 12:31 AM
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

Teachers should be ‘thankful’

To the Editor:

As a 33-year resident of Ridgewood, I am perplexed by the dissent of the Ridgewood teachers and their union about their current contract. The teachers are unhappy about paying for the increase in their healthcare costs. Everyone today is paying for their healthcare increases: medical personnel, retirees, and pharmaceutical company employees. The reason healthcare costs are continually rising (and will be in the future) are: Obamacare for the masses, an aging baby boomer population now requiring geriatric, cardiac, cancer, psychiatric, specialty care and designer drugs to help everyone live a longer life. Did the New Jersey Education Association think its Democratic-endorsed, union wishes for a national healthcare program would be absorbed by the public when in fact other municipalities in New Jersey and other states have opposed the taxpayer absorbing this substantial cost? Who did they think would pay for this? Ridgewood taxpayers should not be penalized for their selfish/unrealistic union demands.

New Jersey teacher’s pay ranks second highest in the nation. Teachers in Ridgewood earn a six-figure salary within five years. In addition, master’s degrees, additional credits, tutoring, tutoring for SAT’s allows them to earn additional/substantial monetary compensation. Their annual increases are more generous than some state employees. There shouldn’t be a financial problem for any teacher to absorb the costs as they are earning a 1 percent upper compensation in the United States in education. There are places that are more expensive to live in than Ridgewood. In the past, certain teachers who were unhappy with contract negotiations refused to give recommendations to the seniors for college.

The teachers have job security (unlike the corporate sector), do not face age discrimination, receive 80 percent of their salary in a pension as well as a taxpayer-payer paid two-day vacation in November for a teacher convention. I say “vacation” because I have never met anyone who goes to Atlantic City for the convention but goes to a destination such as Florida.

Unfortunately their healthcare provider, Horizon Blue Cross/Blue Shield, of the New Jersey Education Association is the most expensive. As a matter of fact, some teacher’s spouses working in corporate America have dropped their corporate health plan (Cigna, Aetna, etc.) coverage because the state employee plan is more lucrative. The taxpayers of NJ are paying for the healthcare benefits of these teacher’s families.

In summary: I think the teachers of Ridgewood and New Jersey should be most “thankful” for the generosity of the Ridgewood taxpayer this Thanksgiving Season and not “thankless.” I sincerely hope the arbitration board will take a firm stand on their role in representing the Ridgewood residents.

Janis Belcher

Ridgewood

https://www.northjersey.com/opinion/opinion-letters-to-the-editor/ridgewood-news-letter-teachers-should-be-thankful-1.1463539

Posted on November 18, 2015 November 18, 2015

Answer to the Ridgewood Teachers Contract Dilemma is Obamacare

November 17,2015

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, the Ridgewood Education Association are currently in contract talks with the Ridgewood BOE .A state-appointed fact finder in February will try to settle a 10-month contract dispute with the Board of Education .The main point of contention is over how much REA members must contribute to their health insurance premiums .

“Why doesn’t the Ridgewoid BoE just make the teachers buy their own insurance through ACA health exchanges in NJ? Health care benefits are not constitutionally protected in NJ, so this change would hold up in the state Supreme Court and resolve a huge headache (and unlimited future healthcare liability) for both the BoE and Village taxpayers in Ridgewood”, Ridgewood blog reader

Maybe its time to put teachers on Obamacare ,after all the teacher unions supported it and voted for it .Why is it good enough for everyone but not good enough for them? After all didn’t Labor unions use the Supreme Court’s King vs. Burwell ruling as a chance to accuse Obamacare critics of putting lives in jeopardy.
Before the decision, Service Employees International Union warned “~10,000 people a year could die prematurely” if the Supreme Court overturned an Internal Revenue Service rule propping up HealthCare.gov in 34 states.

The NEA, the largest labor union in America, gave Health Care for America Now (HCAN) an organizer of pro Obamacare rallies $1.8 million from 2008 to 2013. AFT, the nation’s third-largest union, gave HCAN $325,000.NEA president Lily Eskelsen Garcia praised the Supreme Court for keeping health insurance “secure” and “affordable” through Obamacare. AFT presidentRandi Weingarten cheered the Court for preventing “a major step backward.”

The NEA website says , “NEA is committed to health reform to ensure that every person in America has quality, affordable health care coverage. Not only is this a moral imperative, it is a key component of controlling spiraling health care costs. Health reform must also guarantee a choice of health care plans and providers through a private health insurance plan, including one that an employee may currently have through their employer, and a public health insurance plan. This choice is a fundamental feature of an American solution for health reform and another critical piece of cost control. Health reform that provides comprehensive benefits to all at an affordable cost guarantees a choice of health plans and rewards quality and innovation as an attainable goal that the public supports.”