As of Monday, Sept. 23, the Carle Place Educational Support Staff (secretaries and clerks) has been negotiating a new contract for 15 months. We are a small unit, less than 30 people, nearly half of whom are part-timers. We entered negotiations asking only for a fair percentage increase over the term of our contract. We had no other issues.

The Carle Place Board of Education, however, had several issues. We have worked out some of them. Our unit has made almost all of the concessions, trying to negotiate a fair contract for both parties. We would like to address the items that the board of education stated in their recent letter to the community:

Fact Finding Results: We work for a school district because of a desire to work for the education of children in a capacity that reflects our talents. We do so knowing that in private industry we could be earning significantly higher wages performing the type of work we currently do and with the responsibilities that are over and above our civil service job descriptions. We do this because, traditionally, time off has been compensation for a lower salary, since school districts do not have the budgets or earning power of private businesses.

The Fact Finder compared us to another district on Long Island that gave up its summer hours for new hires. However, what is not mentioned in the report is that the school district we are being compared to does not work two of the three recesses (which include Christmas, spring or winter), while the Carle Place School District works all three recesses. Our board has made no such offer. Our negotiating committee has presented several viable alternatives that the board has rejected. It appears the board will have its demand of 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. year round; nothing less will suffice. Since we were hired with the current time schedule, we do work a full day according to our contract.

Lack of Negotiating: The board made reference to only eight negotiating sessions before reaching an impasse. Numerous meetings were cancelled, because of unavailability of the board's attorney. We continued to attempt to negotiate, however, in a letter to our Local #153 representative dated Aug. 8, 2002, the board's attorney stated: "... the board will not agree to further negotiation."

Working Without A Contract: Our contention stems from the fact that since we do not have a new contract, we have not received a salary increase in two years, except for step upgrades. A unit member at Step 12, but not with the district 10 years (long enough to receive a longevity stipend), receives no salary increase.

In closing, please know that we continue to perform at the same professional level that we have always employed. Many of us are community members; we all care about the children of Carle Place and will continue to go that extra mile when needed.

We will continue to negotiate in good faith.

Carle Place Educational Support Staff