District going to mediation P'burg board, teachers in deadlock. Association president cites hours, salaries, health insurance. Tuesday, October 24, 2006 • By DANIEL HAUSMANN • The Express-Times PHILLIPSBURG | The school board and teachers have reached an impasse in contract negotiations and will go to state mediation. Both sides declined to go into detail on what is holding the process up. Phillipsburg Education Association President Barbara Alderfer said the sticking points are the length of the work day, salaries and health insurance. When asked if both sides were far apart, Alderfer nodded, then refused to elaborate. "The stuff we're negotiating now are radical changes," Alderfer said. Board member Kevin DeGerolamo is chairman of the board personnel committee. He described the feeling of the board on the stalled negotiations as "somber." "Mostly because it hasn't gotten to that next step yet," DeGerolamo said. In September, Alderfer was encouraged that a resolution might be near for the process that has been going on for almost a year. When asked Monday if her union members were getting antsy, Alderfer said no. There are no new meetings set up for negotiations and a state mediator has to be called in. Based on collective bargaining rules between New Jersey school districts and unions, school boards cannot impose contracts on teachers. The mediation is not binding. Negotiations for the last union contract lasted for nine months in 2003. The current contract expired at the beginning of July. The approved 2003-2006 contract included longer school days for the more than 350 teachers and 4 percent raises in 2003, 3.85 percent in 2004-05 and 3.75 in 2005-06. The median teacher salary for the school district in 2005-06 is $56,218, according to the state Department of Education. The state median average for a K-12 district is $52,061. District and union officials have been negotiating since November. Talks were put on hold after March in anticipation of the school board elections and to allow a new school board negotiation team to be appointed. Board members and union leaders began meeting again over the summer. Superintendent Gordon Pethick said the district is looking to restart negotiations with the supervisor's union, whose contract also expired in July and an extension with the administrators' union. Reporter Daniel Hausmann can be reached at 610-258-7171 or by e-mail at dhausmann@express-times.com. © 2006 The Express-Times. Used by NJ.com with permission.