Merrick School District, Teachers Agree to New Contract

The Merrick School District held its first public Board of Education meeting of the 2012-2013 school year Monday, and amid rampant cuts of state aid and a new two percent tax cap in place, some good news was revealed to help balance out the district's finances.

Superintendent Dr. Dominick Palma announced an agreement between the Merrick School District and the Merrick Faculty Association on the terms of a new three year contract, effective July 1, 2012 through June 30, 2015.

“I’d like to thank and congratulate the Merrick Faculty Association for their work and for agreeing to a reasonable contract,” Palma said. “We’re in a pretty tough financial place as we move forward, and that was balanced by the Teacher’s Association in this contract. I think this will set us up into a good position for the next three years.”

The Merrick District’s proposed amended policies on bullying, influenced by the recently-adopted New York State Dignity for All Students Act, were also discussed at the meeting.

“In response to the Dignity Act, we proposed a bullying prevention and intervention policy,” Palma said. “The proposed policy is on out website if anyone wants to read it. We will have the first read of the policy at our next board meeting, to see if there are any terms that need to be changed before it’s approved for a final read and adoption.”

Near-future additions to the bullying policy were also revealed to be slated to take effect next year, based on amendments being made to the Dignity Act. These new additions center on off-campus/cyber bullying, Palma said.

“Right now, that’s always been a grey area concerning the ability to a school district to respond to cyber bullying, or anything that happens off-campus,” he said. “Under the amendments, which don’t take effect until next July, we’ll be responsible for investigating and trying to prevent bullying that happens off-premises, provided it has some sort of impact in the district.”

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However, Dr. Palma pointed out that the Merrick District already has provision in its Code of Conduct that off-campus conduct by students can still be grounds for disciplinary action if it results in some sort of in-school disruption.

“We’ve already gone above and beyond what the law requires,” he said.

The Merrick Parent Teachers Association (PTA), in conjunction with the school board, also handed out flower bouquets to both newly-hired teachers in the district, as well as teachers who had achieved tenure with the district over the summer.

Dr. Palma also announced that the school board would be conducting interviews after adjourning to executive session that evening to appoint a new Director of Student Services to replace Eric Arlin, who has moved onto a similar position in the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District (CHSD) starting this school year.

“As soon as we’ve chosen someone for the position, we will let everyone know,” Dr. Palma said. “We would like to get someone in as soon as possible.”

The next meeting of the Merrick Board of Education is scheduled for Oct. 9, at 7 p.m.