Toms River School Board Files Impasse Over Teacher Contract Talks

TOMS RIVER, NJ — The Toms River Regional Board of Education has filed a notice of impasse with the state over a breakdown in negotiations for a new contract for the district's teachers.

Bruce Padula, the labor counsel for the school board, announced the impasse filing with New Jersey's Public Employment Relations Commission Monday evening during the school board meeting.

Padula said the impasse filing came because it had become clear that neither the school board's negotiating committee nor the teachers union were going to budge further on a proposed salary increase.

The board's final proposal was for a one-year contract with a 3 percent raise, to get through the dual crises of the S2 state aid cuts and the coronavirus crisis, with a plan to negotiate a three-year deal after that, Padula said. The Toms River Education Association's final offer was for a 3.5 percent raise.

Scott Campbell, president of the Toms River Education Association, which represents the district's 1,700 teachers along with its paraprofessional staff, criticized the filing during public comments, calling it "incredibly disrepectful" after what he said was three negotiating sessions.

There had been informal meetings in February, in advance of what were anticipated to be formal contract negotiations. Padula said the coronavirus pandemic disrupted the plans to meet in person, and offers and counteroffers were discussed by email going back to late March.

The board offered a 2 percent raise for one year as a starting point, and the union countered with 3.8 percent, Padula and Campbell said.

Campbell said he was surprised by the 2 percent offering because of informal discussions he'd had with Superintendent David Healy and Business Administrator William Doering that gave him the impression the board would offer 3 percent raises.

Healy said he and Doering have no role in the negotiations. The negotiating committee consists of board members Jennifer Howe, Michele Williams and board president Anna Polozzo.

Padula said in addition to in-person negotiating sessions, there were offers and counteroffers via email before the final board offer on Aug. 7 of a 3 percent raise, increases for Tier 2 paraprofessionals to $81 per day, and an allowance for a bereavement day. The union's counter was 3.5 percent raises.

Campbell said the 3.5 percent was in line with what other school districts in Ocean County had given their teachers. Padula said figures the board had received from the New Jersey School Boards Association were lower.

The impasse filing means the state Public Employment Relations Commission will assign a mediator who likely will have at least two mediation sessions before referring it to fact-finding, Padula said. Each side will be asked to make its last best offer and present a case on why it's appropriate before a decision is reached. The timetable on that process was unclear.

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