Teachers Accuse Moorestown School Board Of Stalling Contract Talks

MOORESTOWN, NJ — Members of the Moorestown Education Association accused the Moorestown Township School District board at its May 17 meeting of not caring enough about them and the district's students to hammer out a contract to replace one that expires in June.

A member of the school board denied that was true, saying that the board wanted to find a mutually acceptable salary and health care benefits package that would resolve the contract dispute as quickly as possible.

At issue is a contract between the Moorestown Education Association and the Moorestown Township School District, which has been the subject of negotiations but to date has not resulted in a new agreement.

There are six schools in the Moorestown Township School District, and approximately 340 teachers and 3,800 students, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

War Of Words

"I am extremely committed to the educational process. Are you?" Kim Martin, a seventh-grade science teacher, asked the board at its meeting.

The school board "not having time for contract negotiations is disappointing, embarrassing and poor business practice," added Carol Wiggins, another special education teacher. "We need a speedy resolution to be able to attract the most qualified teachers at all schools."

School board member Mark Villanueva objected to some of the public comments.

"The notion that we don't care is just wrong. The negotiation committee ... has spent hundreds of hours trying to get this deal done," he said. "To suggest that we don't care is wrong."

The school board is "making every effort" to get the education association a new contract as quickly as possible, School Board President Mick Weeks said in an interview with Patch on Friday.

"We definitely want to support and reward them for their work and their efforts. That said, we do need to make sure we're fiscally and operationally sustainable with the agreement that we get with them," he said.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to provide the correct name of one of the persons who spoke at the meeting.

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