The following article,
written by Klaus Gaebel, is reprinted from The
Saugerties Post Star, 05-01-08 Saugerties Post Star , May 1,
2008 SESA Contract
Approved Last week the Saugerties Board of Education approved a
budget that will be presented to voters on May 20th. The
board also approved the SESA (Saugerties Educational Support
Association) contract. SESA represents teaching assistants,
teacher aides, clerical and food service personnel. The proposed budget for the 2008-09 school year will
increase spending by 4.73% over the previous year, going to
$52,135,740. The 2007-08 budget was short of the $50
million mark, coming in at $49,782,430. Business manager Joe Dziadik said the tax levy would go
up 4.92% under the budget. After not being able to come to a majority agreement on
the budget Wednesday evening, the board reconvened Thursday
night. Eight board members were at the special Wednesday
meeting, with Michael Brennan leaving unexpectedly early,
before budget discussions began. The first vote on a budget Wednesday evening saw it
defeated 8-0. That budget would have increased spending by
5.63% and the tax levy would have gone up 6.32%. The second vote saw a modified budget rejected by a 6-2
vote, with Robert McCaig and Terry Parisian voting in favor
of it. That budget called for a 4.93% spending increase and
a tax levy increase of 5.30%. Thursday’s meeting saw trustees Michael Brennan,
Robert McCaig, Terry Parisian, and Richard Petramale absent.
That forced the 5 members present to come to a unanimous
decision on a budget since five votes were needed to pass a
spending plan. The summer school program became the main point of
contention during discussions Thursday evening. Trustee Mark
Thompson questioned whether dropping the summer school
program wasn’t taking away education and advocated for
the retention of the program. Board member George Heidcamp said it was necessary to
make some tough decisions on what to cut and added “I
think this Board of Education has to ask: can the taxpayers
afford summer school?” Heidcamp added “we are up
against the wall” and that students “do have the
option to go to another school 12 miles away so we’re
not taking their education away from them.” The reference to another school was that parents can make
arrangements to send their child to another district for
summer school, though the cost and transportation would be
borne by them. Board President Don Tucker stated his belief that
“people are having a difficult time” in the
present economy and that even passing a 4.92% tax levy
increase was “going to be a hard sell.” The first vote on the budget was defeated 4-1 since it
didn’t get the required 5 “yes” votes. Jim
Steinhilber, Sam Fisco, Don Tucker and George Heidcamp voted
“yes”. Mark Thompson voted “no”,
apparently because the proposed budget lacked the summer
school program. Later in the evening, in order to finally
pass a budget, Thompson reluctantly added his name as a
“yes” vote in order to pass a budget and send
everyone home, although the summer school program was still
missing from the budget. Although the board had considered dropping driver’s
education to further reduce the budget, that program was
eventually left in. The original budget proposed by Superintendent Richard
Rhau and Joe Dziadik in March called for a 5.98% increase in
spending and an 8.8% tax levy increase. In other action at the April 23rd meeting, the board
voted 8-0 to approve the recently completed contract with
SESA. The previous SESA contract had expired almost three
years ago, in June 2005. This one runs through June
2012. Business Manager Joe Dziadik said the district made some
gains in the health insurance area of the contract. George Heidcamp complimented the SESA negotiating team
and thought the district gave them “a very fair
contract.” Referring to the negotiating sessions held,
Superintendent Rhau said it was very professional and
thanked Dziadik and Assistant Superintendent Cheryl Nuciforo
for giving the district up-to-date information leading to
good decisions. Don Tucker individually thanked members of the SESA and
the district teams. Sam Fisco said he’s been receiving positive feedback
about the board being more open with the staff. Mark Thompson thanked everyone for their patience in
finally reaching an agreement, and the respect everyone
showed each other at the negotiating table. Marine Dipaola, president of the SESA, indicated that
salary wasn’t a sticky point during negotiations since
the raise proposed was in line with other contracts that had
been negotiated within the district. Hospitalization and
some other issues proved difficult. Dipaola indicated the first vote on a contract was turned
down by the SESA membership about 2 years ago. Dipaola felt that recent changes to the school board and
a change in the district’s law firm that led district
negotiations, along with their own change in the LRS (Labor
Relations Specialist) “all of that and starting fresh
again I think made a big difference.” Dipaola said
“they were definitely positive items.” According to Dipaola, over 130 SESA members took part in
the recent vote to approve the agreement and it was almost
unanimous. Dipaola concluded her thoughts saying “I think
overall the respect on both sides of the table was great. As
far as talking and listening I think it was done on both
sides. I really appreciated everything that they did and
listened to and let us explain to them what was going on. I
think that’s a very big plus in everything that
happened.”