Ramapo Indian Hills Education Association: Statement to BOE

In a closed meeting last week, the Ramapo-Indian Hills Education Association expressed their
frustration and discontent with the Ramapo-Indian Hills Board of Education through a vote of no
confidence. The Association took this vote in the wake of your unwillingness to settle a fair and
equitable contract with the dedicated employees of the RIH school district.

The Association has been negotiating in good faith throughout the entire process and even offered
major concessions in order to adjust the salary guides to attract the best and the brightest for our
students while stopping the mass exodus of qualified teachers leaving the district. However, this
Board seems to forget that negotiations are a two-way process.

The vote came on the heels of our late November formal fact finding hearing, where this Board
continued to make unreasonable requests for additional sacrifices and concessions from the
staff. At the root of the issue is the Board’s unwillingness to offer meaningful relief of health
benefit costs. We are simply looking for a permanent cap of the percentage of health care
premiums that employees pay similar to Ramsey, Ridgewood and Mahwah school districts. The
salary guides we brought to the Board, and that they tentatively agreed to, gave major
concessions on longevity and in exchange, we simply needed an equitable health benefits
percentage reduction in return. The Board simply refused.

To add insult to injury, this Board consistently over-budgets its spending while underestimating
the amount of state aid they receive, leaving the district with a large surplus. I am going to have
our chief negotiator, John Gaccione, explain the financial details.

According to a recent audit done by the district,

From 2011-12 to 2015-16, the district over budgeted their healthcare costs by an average
of over $1.2 million ($1,201,367) per year. In that time span the district has actually saw
decreases in healthcare costs in all but 1 year.

From 2011-12 to 2016-17, the district consistently underestimated the amount of
Extraordinary Aid they received. Each year they estimated receiving $0 but have
received on average nearly $300 thousand ($293,478) annually.

From 2011-12 to 2015-16, the district consistently underestimated the amount of State
Aid they received. On average they received over $300 thousand ($322,395) more than
they estimated annually.

From 2011-12 to 2015-16, the district has underestimated its revenue by an average of
more than one and half million dollars ($1,658,530) annually.

From 2011-12 to 2015-16, the district has operated with an average surplus of nearly $1.8
million ($1,796,117) annually totaling a surplus of just under $9 million over the last 5
years.

Even worse, this Board continues to issue press releases full of misleading statements and half-
truths. For instance the January 16th press release states the board does not want to “unfairly
burden the taxpayers” insinuating that the Association would like to do this. This is not the truth!
The truth is the board can settle a contract without increasing taxes or requiring further
concessions. At the fact finding hearing it was made clear that this board has more than enough money to fairly compensate their staff but they have no desire to do so. We are left to draw no other conclusion than to believe you do not value your employees for their dedicated work.

Both the December 22nd and January 16th press release, state “the board proposed a salary guide
that would increase starting salaries and provide a fair distribution of increases to all teachers by
leveling out longevity”. It was the association that brought these guides in principle to the board
even though it included a freeze in salary in the first year of the contract for teachers with no
retroactive pay and a major concession on longevity that will save the district hundreds of
thousands of dollars every year from the first year of this contract onward. These guides were
brought to the board as a package offer that came with a permanent cap of the percentage of
health care premiums that employees pay. This board wants to take these guides and our
concessions and not make any meaningful concessions of their own.

The January 16th press release also lists some items which the board was willing to give to the
association as if it was being done out of benevolence but the release conveniently leaves out all
the other concessions this board demanded for these items.

The men and women who dedicate their lives to the students of the Ramapo-Indian Hills School
District and make the district successful deserve a fair contract, not a bargaining crisis that has
extended itself for the better part of a year and a half. The bottom line is that we simply cannot
support a board that does not make its staff a priority and continues to make a conscious decision
to drain its most valuable resource.

News from the...

Ramapo-Indian Hills Education Association

January 12, 2018 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Union votes ‘no confidence’ in local school board

RIHEA: “We cannot support a board that doesn’t make its staff a priority”

“The Association has been negotiating in good faith throughout the entire process and
even offered major concessions in order to adjust the salary guides to attract the best and
the brightest for our students while stopping the mass exodus of qualified teachers
leaving the district,” said John Gaccione, RIHEA Negotiations Chair. “However, this
Board seems to forget that negotiations are a two-way process.”

RAMAPO-INDIAN HILLS- In a closed meeting earlier this week, the Ramapo-Indian
Hills Education Association (RIHEA) expressed their frustration and discontent with the
Ramapo-Indian Hills Board of Education through a vote of no confidence. The
Association took a vote in the wake of the Board’s unwillingness to settle a fair and
equitable contract with the dedicated employees of the RIH school district.

The vote came on the heels of a December formal fact finding hearing, where the
Association alleges that the Board continued to make unreasonable requests for
additional sacrifices and concessions from the staff. At the root of the issue is the
Board’s unwillingness to offer meaningful relief of health benefit costs, while the
Association maintains that its own proposals simply look to keep in line with surrounding
districts’ health benefits offerings.

“The Board consistently over-budgets its spending while underestimating the amount of
state aid they receive, leaving them with a large surplus,” Gaccione continued. “This
means the Board has more than enough money to settle a contract without raising taxes.
The simple truth is the Board does not value its employees for their dedicated work.”

The RIHEA represents over 300 staff members in the Ramapo-Indian Hills school
district, including teachers, instructional aides, technology specialists, administrative
assistants, custodians, and security guards. The RIHEA’s contract expired in June 2016,
forcing the staff to work under an expired agreement for over a year and a half.

“The men and women who dedicate their lives to the students of the Ramapo-Indian Hills
and make the district successful deserve a fair contract,” Gaccione stated. “We simply
cannot support a board that does not make its staff a priority and continues to make a
conscious decision to drain its most valuable resource.”

Contact: John Gaccione, RIHEA Secretary and Negotiations Chair
riheapr@gmail.com