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01/20/2016 08:08 PMPointing to a decade-old 27 percent pay raise that continues to put North Branford's certified school administrator salaries at least $5,000 above those in nearby towns; while also saying the Town Council "dropped the ball" on joining negotiations this time around, Town Council member Al Rose expressed his frustration on Jan. 19, as the clock wound down on the council's 30-day action window to approve, disapprove or take no action on the new contract agreement between the Board of Education (BOE) and North Branford School Administrators Association.
The contract agreement was filed with the town on Dec. 22, 2015 to begin the 30-day window, including holidays and weekends. Contract details were meted out without direction from the Town Council, which is also the town's Finance Board, noted Rose. By statutory obligation, the negotiations were set to begin just about the time of the Nov. 2015 municipal elections, which was also a problem, said Rose.
"The last (term's) council was aware that they were going to have a (negotiation) meeting; it came before us the last meeting of the old council," said Rose. "The entire old council said we don't know who's going to be here...so we didn't want to start the process until the next council was elected. So at that point the ball was dropped on this council's floor."
Rose asked Town Manager Mike Paulhus to find any records of a mandatory meeting seeking Town Council input in advance of the negotiation process. Paulhus responded he'd found none, but that he did get a phone call from Superintendent of Schools Scott Schoonmaker in October. Schoonmaker also confirmed the call was made, on Oct. 20, 2015. In addition, BOE member Marcey Onofrio recalled she was part of the school contingent which then met with the Town Council during an executive session, to invite a council member to attend the upcoming negotiation meetings.
"As a matter of fact, they said does anyone want to go on the committee, and you said we can wait until after the election," Onofrio told Rose.
Rose said that discussion isn't enough to free the Town Manager or Superintendent of blame with respect to making sure that, as required by state statute, the BOE follows a requirement to have a "mandatory meeting" to confer with the town's finance board before negotiations.
"So we missed a mandatory meeting (and) it's happened before in this period," said Rose. "This cannot happen anymore. It's our opportunity, as the financial board of the town, to direct the Board of Education or their negotiation team as to how we are financially, and where we feel we want to be."
Rose said he's also learned that, "...because we didn't do that, we don't have a last best offer," making the new contract "... a done deal" with no grounds for arbitration.
Ultimately, no action was taken by the Town Council on Jan.19, so the new contract will become official on or about Jan. 22, North Branford School Personnel and Business Director Donald Winnicki told Zip06.
Winnicki told the council that the timing of the negotiations is due to the town's budget cycle.
"Because of when our budget cycle is, our arbitration deadline for certifited administrators and teachers always ends up being right around Christmas; and so that's one of the reasons that things get filed immediately prior to that time of year, because we really don't have a choice. If it's not filed by then, a few days later, theoretically, it's in arbitration," said Winnicki.
North Branford's school principals, assistant principals and directors of special instruction and special services will receive raises of two percent each year over the next three years, offset by contributing one percent more each year toward healthcare. Meanwhile, their health deductibles are scaling in favor of the town, with administrators going from meeting a $2,000/$4,000 (individual/family) deductible to now needing to meet a $2,500/$5,000 deductible. The overall result creates a total salary increase of approximately 1.86 percent annually, said BOE chair Philip Dahlmeyer.
The North Branford High School (NBHS) principal tops the new scale with a July 1, 2016- June 30, 2017 annual salary of $159,152; increasing to $163,131 for 2017-18 and $167,209 in 2018-19. North Branford Intermediate School's (NBIS) principal will earn $154,074 in 2016-17, $157,926 in 2017-18 and $161,874 in 2018-19. The town's two elementary school principals have 2016-17 salaries starting at $150,052, increasing to $153,803 in 2017-18 and $157,648 in 2018-19. The NBHS assistant principal and NBIS assistant principal will each earn $143,106 in 2016-17, increasing to $146,684 the next year and $150,351 in 2018-19. Elementary school assistant principals will earn $139,351 in 2016-17, then $142,835 in 2017-18 and $146,405 in 2018-19.
The new pay raises are not only offset by health care premiums but are also in line with those of 17 districts which had completed new contracts at the time of the North Branford negotiations, said Schoonmaker.
Rose said the percentage increases may be considered modest by the BOE, but the dollars are exponential due to a 27 percent pay increase spearheaded by the late Dr. Robert Wolfe, North Branford's Superintendent of Schools through 2008. Back then, based on Wolfe's premise that paying more would drive in quality administrators and raise quality of education; the Town Council took no action on a contract providing administrators salary increases of nine percent annually for three years.
Rose said the town's students haven't benefited from Wolfe's idea. In particular, Rose pointed to comparative 2015 SBAC test scores among North Branford, Branford, Clinton, Madison and Guilford students.
While North Branford has the lowest scores, Schoonmaker said the SBAC test is not the one with which to measure North Branford student achievement. The new tests were given in CT for the first time in 2015 and have since been called into question for reform by many state educational leaders.
"Our test scores have been fine on CMT, CAPT and AP scores... you're talking about SBAC," Schoonmaker told Rose. "It was bad this time and we've redirected. We're not going to make excuses. There's an action plan in place, the administrators know; its laser-focus now. That was a first-time test and there's a lot of reform going on in public education right now."
Schoonmaker said North Branford's high administrator salary scale is something he has been working to help rein in with every contract negotiation.
"In my last two negotiations, they've taken a zero (percent increase) for a year. In my last two negotiations, they were under two percent; and now they're under that two percent again," said Schoonmaker.
Onofrio added that the 27 percent increase given ten years ago "...wasn't just a bump; they cleaned up a lot in the contract," she said, including doing away with accrued sick leave, eliminating some stipends and sun-setting retiree medical benefits.
"Other towns have a lot of these incentives and bonuses still in those contracts," Onofrio said.
She also noted the BOE is steadily increasing the administrators' portion of payment of health insurance premium share, which is at 13 percent now and will be increased to 14 percent in 2016-17, then 15 percent the following year and finally 16 percent in 2018-19.
"In the towns around us, they're paying 16 percent already, so you're correcting that," Rose answered.
"I can't help where they started ten years ago, but since I've been there, we've upped it every year," said Onofrio.
Rose said he wanted to emphasize that the negotiation process, going forward, needs to be set up properly to include input from the Town Council as the town's finance board.
"We look at this stuff in the 11th hour 59th minute time after time after time, and it's wrong," said Rose.