School District Offers Proposal to Teachers Union

A proposal package has been submitted to the Kings Park Classroom Teachers Association by the Kings Park School District with hopes of settling the negotiations between the two which have been ongoing since October 2010.

The board of education, district officials and members of the KPCTA met on Wednesday evening.

Negotiations have remained deadlocked for more than two years. After an unsuccessful attempt at mediation, the process went to Fact Finding in October of last year, with the results of the fact finding report being rejected by the district, resulting in a continued impasse. The final step in impasse is super conciliation, which both parties have scheduled for March 6.  Super conciliation is where another neutral party is chosen as negotiator.

According to the district, the union proposed a “last ditch effort” at negotiations, leading to the February 6 meeting.

After meeting with school district attorneys, a proposal package was given to the teacher’s negotiation team.

According to the district, the negotiation team is considering the proposal and would have a counter-proposal by March 6.

"With budget discussions for next year underway, we face the scary reality of having to potentially eliminate up to fourteen teaching positions."  said board trustee, Tom Locascio.  "I remain hopeful that the board of education and the teacher's union can come to an agreement that saves jobs, protects taxpayers in our community and reflects the reality of challenging financial times we are all living in."

In a statement, the board of education said, “The board looks forward to receipt of the team’s counter- proposal to continue this process and is hopeful that we can successfully reach an agreement that will sustain our district and its teachers.”

KPCTA president, Jim Pappas could not be reached for comment at the time this story ran.