By AUBRIE GEORGE | The Moorestown Sun
The local teachers union and the Moorestown Board of Education are at an impasse in negotiations.
In late June, the Moorestown Education Association announced plans to declare an impasse in its negotiations with the Board along with its intention to file a request for a mediator with the Public Employment Relations Commission.
“Both parties, the BOE and the MEA, mutually determined that we had reached an impasse,” MEA president, Lisa Trapani, said in an E-mail to The Sun. “The BOE and the MEA mutually filed for mediation and are waiting for a state-appointed mediator.”
Linda Alexandroff, co-chair of the Board’s negotiation committee, said the committee for the Board and the MEA had met seven times for approximately two hours each meeting in an attempt to hash out a contract.
“During these meetings, we have exchanged proposals on salary, insurance, and contract language. While we were able to settle some minor issues, there are several key areas in which we were unable to reach accord,” Alexandroff said in a statement released by the school district.
Officials did not elaborate on what key issues remain to be resolved.
To speed up the process and reach a settlement as quickly as possible, Board members said they would file a joint request for a mediator with the MEA.
“The Board intends to participate fully in the mediation process with the hope of a quick resolution to this dispute,” Alexandroff said.
Noting the community’s active role in this year’s school budget process, Alexandroff said the Board’s responsibility would be to “achieve a settlement that accommodates desires of the community while enabling the Moorestown school system to continue its legacy of providing excellent education for Moorestown’s youth.”
While not allowed to force either side to give in on any particular issue, the mediator’s job will be to provide two or three mediation sessions where he or she will offer suggestions for compromise in an effort to reach a settlement that both parties agree on.
If a settlement is not reached during the mediation stage, the two parties will enter into the fact-finding stage of the impasse process where an impartial person, who is not the mediator, will hold a hearing for evidence and testimony from both sides to be heard.
That person will then issue a report with their recommendation for a settlement, based on the hearing.
The third step, should an agreement still not be reached in the fact-finding stage, is called super conciliation, which will require an additional neutral person to visit the school district and attempt to persuade both sides to come to an agreement.
The Public Employment Relations Commission will pay for the first mediator to come in and aid the two parties.
Should the process continue further than the mediation process, the Board and the MEA will take on the expenses.
