Tag: Ridgewood Teachers contract

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Readers say There is no room for your NJEA style tactics in our Village of Ridgewood

Ridgewood EA teachers protest

Picketing our BOE with red shirts and signs is a union thug tactic . There is no room for your NJEA style tactics in our Village. Tell the full-time NJEA lawyers, activists and lobbyists advising the REA that we have no room for their thug-like tactics in our beautiful Village. Take it back to Hudson County.

I think the term “thugs” was used referring to union tactics but our teachers are not behaving professionally. If you look at the faces in the middle picture above none of them look very happy. I’d say malcontent is an accurate description. If I made a face like that at my job, I’d be placed on a PIP for having a bad attitude! I believe the majority of Ridgewood residents support the BOE holding the line given that we already pay our teachers very generously. We live in a beautiful town and we value education but a lot of us are struggling to make ends meet and our property taxes are getting out of hand. We don’t speak openly because we do not want our children punished in the classroom for our opinions.

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Reader says Ridgewood Teacher’s Union supporters are blatantly misleading readers and twisting facts

REA, ridgewoood teachers

You are blatantly misleading readers and twisting facts!!! Assuming you pay average Ridgewood property taxes of $16,000 a year, and assuming you are, in fact, a soon to retire teacher, then your $16,000 in property taxes helps cover the cost of Village contributions towards your lifetime defined benefit TPAF pension.

Assuming you are a Tier 1 member (enrolled in TPAF before July 2007), you can retire between age 55~60 you will receive full retirement benefits. To calculate how much your annual pension is worth, you divide your service time by 55, then multiple that by your average salary for the three years immediately preceding your retirement. So say 35 years divided by 55 = 63.6% of your average final salary $118,000 = $75,000 in taxpayer protected, defined benefit pension every year until you die which will be more than 25+ years if you retire at 60 and live to the average U.S. lifespan of 85 years. For this you contributed only 6.5% of your base salary but you get a defined benefit amount in retirement plan, i.e. you are insulated from any investment risk and benefit from taxpayer protected pension plan with an assumed annual rate of return of 7.95%. Yes the percentage contribution will gradually climb to 7.5% by 2018, but it’s still less than the 10% that PFRS members contribute and you take no investment risk like the rest of us with defined contribution IRAs or 401(k) plans. Those who enrolled in TPAF on June 28, 2011, or later are won’t be eligible until 65 for a pension, but that is for members who will retire in 35+ years from now, NOT you.

That $16,000 in property taxes also helps to subsidize your “Platinum” level health benefits, as defined by the ACA, which is an annual benefit of up to $28,000 a year depending on family member coverage. This plan covers up to 96% of eligible medial costs with $10 co-pays..TPAF members with at least 10 years of service time also receive a free group life insurance policy payable upon their death to their beneficiaries. You can also choose to purchase an additional group life policy that costs 0.4% of your paycheck. Not bad for $16,000 in property taxes, which is why it means you should be ASHAMED of your comment that “I am Ridgewood tax payer too and suffer just like you when the rates increase.” You don’t suffer, it’s in YOUR beneficial interest because you benefit from increased taxes which help pay for your retirement. Put in $16,000 a year in property taxes and get out over $105,000 in annual benefits. So please tell the whole story here or it truly is “shame on you.”

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REA supporter reverts to the same old name calling because it worked so well for the last mayor and his crew

Ridgewood EA teachers protest
We heard this from Valley Hospital,then the 3 amigos and now the REA 

“Hold strong to your position REA. This heinous, negative sentiment toward educators is indicative of a minority of Ridgewood residents. Comments about not having the support of the community are inaccurate. More and more of the limited support Ridgewood Teacher signs are cropping up everyday despite this being vacation time. The premise that teachers are living in a fantasy world, are asking for pie-in-the-sky benefits and don’t understand the reality of the day are ridiculous. The REA has proposed what every other district in NJ has asked for, nothing more. Teacher hate is not the norm in other towns…… and not for the majority of Ridgewood residents.”

“I have followed the various posts on this blog related to the current negotiations and have held my tongue. I have read that teachers are : greedy, vindictive, inactive, unprofessional, uncaring, easily replaceable, union puppets, abusing an archaic system, engaging in activities that would have them fired from non tenured jobs (wearing a red shirt for unity) and a litany of other things that are an affront to common decency. Statements are made based on gossip, half-truths and inaccurate facts that fuel the animosity. If someone, who knew nothing about the situation, happened upon this blog and took the comments as accurate, they would believe the Ridgewood teachers to be angry, slothful beings,living high on the hog, hellbent on bankrupting the taxpayers, brainwashing (while not caring about or actually teaching) their students, being provided an exorbitant salary for a no-show job, while lounging on the beach. If this isn’t teacher hate, please tell me what is?”
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Reader say I like the idea of a referendum on the Ridgewood teachers contract

REA Members come out to greet our Board of Ed

I like the idea of a referendum on the teachers contract, so long as it’s binding. We had great teachers and administrators who built up the reputation of Ridgewood schools. The current bunch? Meh. They seem to care more about their health benefits than our kids. If you witnessed their behavior this past school year you’d agree they’ve done nothing to carry on the “tradition of excellence”. More like “riding on the coat-tails of the reputation built by the predecessors.” They are trying to bully us with the backing of NJEA lawyers and lobbyists. We need to support our BOE and students, if only they elicited the same grassroots support that the we’ve seen opposing the most recent garage proposal and Valley!

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Readers Not Sympathetic to Ridgewood Teachers Demands

Ridgewood EA teachers protest

Sick and tired of hearing some the highest paid teachers in the State complain. Get a grip – the real world does not get automatic increases every year and in many case each year the contribution towards health insurance increases and coverage changes to economize. Let them strike and fire them. Lots of fresh new faces with lots of energy or teachers working in lower paying districts would love to have your jobs and be happy to work for a lot less

Teachers voted for Obamacare which is why health premiums are rising faster than wages. But now they want taxpayers to carry the extra cost so they can keep their Platinum health benefits? Give us all a break. Its great the REA can’t bully our BOE members as parents like they’ve done in the past with former BOE members. These are hard working volunteers trying to protect Ridgewood taxpayers from hostile and abusive REA/NJEA who has no interest in negotiating in good faith. They just want to keep screwing Ridgewood taxpayers as our school rankings keep declining. $102mn school budget for a town of 25,0000 and yet the REA wants more! This is abject greed.

NJEA and the REA is shameless trying to bully BOE members and their families. We can only guess the abuse the hard working volunteers have faced privately from the REA and NJEA thugs, and if they did have kids in the local schools what challenges that might present. If you don’t like your health benefit premiums, then downgrade to Bronze level coverage like the rest of us in the private sector. Remember, it was your union who supported Obamacare. So now accept that taxpayers are done subsidizing better health benefit plans for you elite teachers at everyone else’s expense. The rate of contribution is determined by your salary, simply the more money you make the more you are forced to contribute. Lower contribution levels don’t work for taxpayers, so suck it up like the rest of us and enjoy your paid summer vacation.

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Ridgewood Teachers Contract : Do it fir da Kids?

Ridgewood EA teachers protest

May 21,2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, the Ridgewood blog has posted verbatim from the Ridgewood Education Association’s Facebook page . We have also included a link to the BOE’s Fact finding Presentation .

Click here to read the Ridgewood Board of Education’s Fact-Finding Presentation with The Ridgewood Education Association.

Here is a summary of the issues surrounding the lack of contract for our association (REA).

“The REA has been working under the terms of an expired contract as of July 1, 2015, negotiations commenced in February 2015. The major issues in our negotiations remain the cost of health contributions teachers will pay, health coverage, and salary.

Employee health contributions are mandated by the state and can not be negotiated away. The law that covers contributions states that once teachers have contributed for four years, and are at the end of a contract, the rate of contribution is then negotiable. Ridgewood is one of the first districts in this position. The rate of contribution is determined by your salary, simply the more money you make the more you are forced to contribute. The average teacher pays 27% of the premium with our most senior teachers paying 35%. This is burdensome on our experienced staff as the increase in contribution is greater than any increase in salary. We are seeking to lower contribution levels.

Salary. We are seeking the county average for salary increase.

Health Coverage. We wish to retain our current options within the state health plan, which is the plan the BOE bargained last round of negotiations. Our willingness to change to the state plan saved the district over a million dollars. It is our contention that Ridgewood’s teachers deserve stability in their health coverage. In addition, the savings achieved in the last round of negotiations combined with the several million dollars contributed by teachers towards that coverage is a significant amount – enough to settle this contract and continue programming.

These issues are not insurmountable and the REA has been willing to engage the BOE in creative means to address the needs of both parties. The larger issue is that the BOE keeps changing their needs. We believe this BOE has no desire to settle a contract:
-At the Sept. 21, 2015 BOE Meeting the Board set their goals for the school year. Goal #3 states: “The Board will continue to negotiate with the REA to settle a new contract.” Their goal is to merely “continue to negotiate”, not settle a contract. When this was brought up by the REA at the meeting BOE Member Vince Loncto stated he saw no problem with the language. Also, why is this the third goal of four? Shouldn’t it be a higher priority?
At the March 23, 2015 meeting the BOE passed a unanimous resolution asking the NJ State Legislature to remove collective bargaining rights for teachers.
-BOE Member Jim Morgan, a member of the Board’s negotiating team, stated in an email sent to the REA: “We can’t impose a contract and the teachers can’t strike. We are therefore left with either just giving up and living with the status quo forever or discussing the issues again. … Like a recalcitrant child, we need to repeat the mantra that ‘the District does not have the money to meet your demands without canceling other educational programs.’” This is their tactic in their own words – act recalcitrant.
-In next year’s school budget the district has allotted $1,592,255 for technology; as well as additional moneys for three new curriculum initiatives next year.
-The BOE keeps changing their position at the table making it impossible for the REA to ever meet them. On March 21, 2016 we presented the Board with a counter proposal. Our counter proposal would cost the Board, over three years, LESS than their proposal, but they refused.
-Ridgewood Board of Education has shown disrespect for the State appointed Fact Finder. They purposely violated procedures by including discussions not entered as evidence at the hearing and misrepresenting the REA’s position in their Fact Finding brief that was submitted to the Fact Finder. Their published brief does not represent their position from the formal Fact Finding hearing. They then doubled-down by making the highly unusual decision to make their report public before the Fact Finder had finished his report in an attempt to intimidate and influence his decision.

Why has this impasse gone on so long? Could it be because this impasse doesn’t affect the Ridgewood Board of Education? Four of the five BOE members do not have children in our schools. One member elects to send her youngest child to a private high school. What do they care if teachers feel disrespected by their actions, if morale is at an all-time low? Their children already graduated and went to great schools. They have nothing at stake – but hopefully the parents and residents of this community will tell this Board of Education that they have a job to do, they need to settle this contract.”

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Ridgewood Board Of Education Meeting December 7th ,7:30pm

BOE_theridgewoodblog

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

Click here to view the agenda and addendum for the November 16, 2015 Regular Public Meeting.

Click here to view the minutes of the November 2, 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.

11.19.15: Free Parent Program Explores the Workings of NJ Education
“A Parent’s Guide to Understanding Public Education” will take place on Saturday, December 5 from 9-11:50 a.m. at Jackson Liberty High School. Click here for details.

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Answer to the Ridgewood Teachers Contract Dilemma is Obamacare

BOE_theridgewoodblog
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.”