Lynbrook BOE Comes to Contract Agreement With Teachers Association

The Lynbrook Board of Education announced that an agreement has been reached with the Lynbrook Teachers Association (LTA) on a new contract, which lasts four years and sets percentages for salary increases each year.

The contract will cease on June 30, 2015 and is currently in the first year. Since the contract is still being finalized, the salary schedule for the first year is 0 percent, plus increment, according to Assistant Superintendent of Business, Dr. Melissa Burak.

Year two of the contract (2012-13) will see a modified salary increase, which varies depending on each individual line, while year three (2013-14) sees an increment of 1.75 percent on a modified salary schedule, and year four (2014-15) sees a modified salary increase plus a  1.75 increment increase, Burak said.

"We can’t even put a percentage on [2012-13]," she said. "In an effort to come in within the tax cap, and present a budget to come within the limit, the union presented a modified salary schedule, and we went back and forth to modify that salary schedule to make it."

Burak said another important piece of the contract is health insurance costs, which will increase an additional four percent over the course of the contract -  the first year will see an increase of 0 percent, the second year 1 percent, the third year 1 percent and the fourth year 2 percent. Health insurance costs will amount to 19 percent increase for a family and 17 percent increase for an individual by the end of the contract, according to Burak.

Bill Lyons, a Lynbrook resident for over 50 years and a former board member, said that the board should have shown more transparency in dealing with the negotiations.

"I think the only time the mention of this was given, is when it was asked for," Lyons said. "I don’t remember anyone for the board or administration say 'well, were up to this or were going here'."

Superintendent Santo Barbarino said the board couldn't say much during the lengthy negotiation process.

"We really can’t comment on details regarding it... what we can say is that negations are progressing, which is what we said to the community," he said. "This was a long process, month after month we would report that the process was ongoing, ‘we’re talking, we’re talking.’ "

Barbarino also touched upon the . The estimated tax levy came in at $64,423,666, a 2.34 percent increase.

"It’s the lowest budget in all the years I’ve been here, in decades we have coming out this year," Barbarino said.

The board is asking the community to approve a capital funding proposition that would include the installation of a turf field at Elementary School, movement of the baseball field to , athletic netting to place around the South Middle School “field oval”, movement of the South Middle School discus area, music rooms, elevator, IT storage, athletic locker rooms (or ‘team rooms’), field re-sodding and exterior restrooms at .

Barbarino said all the propositions and ingredients of the budget will be published in a newsletter, which was sent out to be printed Tuesday, and that full information on the 2012-13 budget will be available shortly at the school website.

The board also approved the Nassau BOCES proposed administrative operations budget for 2012-13, which came in at $19,305,205, and announced an interim principal for , with the current principal out on family and medical leave.

The will be held on May 2, and the budget vote is on May 15.

Do you have any questions on the items discussed at Tuesday night's meeting? Tell us in the comments.

Correction: Health insurance costs will amount to 19 percent increase for a family and 17 percent increase for an individual by the end of the contract. The figures were originally stated as $19,000 and $17,000. Numbers for the teachers contract have also been updated.