Hauppauge Teachers, School Officials Head To Mediation Over Contracts

Hauppauge teachers and school officials have reached an impasse in negotiating new contracts and are turning to a mediator in hopes of reaching an agreement.

Superintendent Patricia Sullivan-Kriss announced the Hauppauge Teachers Association and Board of Education would be seeking mediation after more than a year of tense negotiations at the Dec. 6 Board of Education meeting.

"It is a non-binding process and it is advisory only. The process will take the next few months by the time we retain someone, present information and get a report back," Sullivan-Kriss said.

Fred Pitrelli, president of the Hauppauge Teachers Association, was not present at the board meeting and could not be reached for comment.

However, the Hauppauge Teachers Association website calls for its members to wear their red HTA shirt every Monday, and either the blue HTA shirt or navy blue on Tuesdays to show a united front.

The HTA's contract with the district was one of four union contracts that expired this spring on June 30. Under New York State's Tri-borough Amendment to the Taylor Law, teachers will continue to work and be paid on the terms outlined in the expired contract until a new agreement is reached.

"The district and HTA have participated in mediation before, but have not done so in the past few contract cycles," said James Stucchio, assistant superintendent of business and operations, in a statement.

The cost of mediation cannot be determined until a mediator is hired, but the district and HTA will be required to split whatever portion of the bill is not paid for by the Public Employee Relations Board, according to Stucchio.

The superintendent has repeatedly stated this year's negotiation process has been made difficult due to implementation of New York State's new mandatory Annual Professional Performance Review, which is

"I really feel this year negotiations are more difficult due to the APPR piece. Whatever we develop and put into place will be significant to teachers, administrators and kids of our community for a very long time," Sullivan-Kriss said at a prior board of education meeting.

Districts must work with teachers to develop an APPR to assess teachers and principals on a scale of 0-100, with 20 to 40 percent of their score coming from students’ test performance and 20 percent from local review measurements.

The district and HTA have already agreed upon a first step: creating an APPR team made of 12 administrators and 12 teachers to focus on a scale and system for 60 percent of the assessment left up to the school district.

However, if the teachers' contract cannot be settled by the height of budget season in March, it could make it difficult for school officials to plan for the 2012-2013 school year.

"The absence of a settlement will make it difficult to budget for teacher salaries," Stucchio said. "In addition, if no agreement is reached by September, all unit members will advance to the next step on the salary schedule. This alone equates to a 3 percent raise, on average."