Over 150 Employees Pack School Board Meeting

COURT HOUSE — So many school district employees showed up at the March 18 Middle Township Board of Education meeting that officials were forced to move it from the board’s usual meeting place in the district offices to the cafeteria in Elementary No. 2 around the corner on Pacific Avenue.
As the meeting opened, board president and former township fire official Calvin Back announced that the legal occupancy of the board’s meeting room was 80 and over 150 packed the meeting. The board likely expected there would be a large turnout because the cafeteria was already set up for the meeting.
The Herald received an anonymous news tip that a large group of district employees would be in attendance. The tip stated that the district was reneging on recently ratified labor contracts by not giving some support staff money owed to them and agreed upon by the board. Consequently, teachers are not getting their money either, the tip stated.
The tipster also noted that non-tenured teachers and administrators received pink slips related to budget problems the district is facing due to Gov. Chris Christie’s holding back of state aid to schools.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, Middle Township Education Association President Charlotte Sadler addressed the board.
“I brought a few of my close friends with me,” Sadler said to a round of applause from the crowd of district employees.
Sadler said the teachers’ union would like to meet with the board to discuss the recently signed contracts. She said that the union was willing to listen and help with the budget in any way it could.
Sadler told the Herald that she could not comment on the matter for this story other than to say that there was a “difference of interpretation” between the union and the district on some language in the contract. She said she could be accused of an “unfair labor practice” if she commented further.
Board President Calvin Back confirmed that the union wanted to meet with the board to renegotiate and discuss some issues in the contract. Back said that meeting was set for Monday, March 22.
Contact Hart at (609) 886-8600 Ext 35 or at: jhart@cmcherald.com