New Paltz United Teachers (NPUT) had been working without a contract for 143 days as of Wednesday, November 20, so waiting close to three hours before the first public comment period at a meeting of the New Paltz Central School District (NPCSD) Board of Education was a comparably short period of time.
The meeting up until that point was consumed by a lengthy discussion about a three-part facilities plan the NPCSD will present to voters in January, and a sobering look at what future budgets might look like, including the possible closure of an elementary school, in a district that expects the ongoing trend of declining student enrollment to continue.
For the members of the NPUT in attendance, and supporters including family members and teachers from other districts like Onteora, there is no better time to discuss their ongoing contract negotiations than right now.
Jennifer Hicks is NPUT’s vice-president for negotiations and a social studies teacher at New Paltz Middle School. She said that budget discussions cannot tell a clear picture until the teachers’ union has a new contract.
“There was a lot of information presented tonight and you know a lot of that information coming out tonight has to do with numbers,” Hicks said. “You’re looking at this budget that (Superintendent Stephen) Gratto brought to the table projecting what it’s going to look like for next year, but we don’t have a contract settled yet, so that information doesn’t really work…It’s uncertain.”
Hicks offered two further numbers to illustrate the gravity of contract negotiations between the union and the NPCSD: 143 days without a deal, and zero days that’s had an impact on the district’s students.
“That’s because the certainty is the people who are here, the certainty is that they show up every day,” she said. “The certainty is that they provide that excellence of education every single day to the students and you know so we’re here today saying we need you to be dedicated to helping us resolve this contract and that’s important for so many reasons, including we need to have this contract we deserve this contract. But you need that for the information for you to be able to move forward as well.”
Hicks noted that facilities and academic discussions often focus on achieving some level of parity with other local school districts, and added that the same should be true of compensation for educators.
“We’re asking for a fair and reasonable contract,” Hicks said. “We’re asking for offers that are inclusive of protections and are economically reasonable from where we are right now that has mutually beneficial supports.”
The two sides had plans to meet with a mediator on Friday, November 22, and in response to what she said was a request from Gratto to come prepared to “start thinking creatively,” Hicks suggested a retirement incentive that would benefit both the NPCSD and NPUT. But that is one piece of an enormous puzzle, one which Hicks said should be settled with a sense of urgency.
“We need to resolve this, we need to do so timely,” she said. “A fair contract is not just an investment in our teachers, it’s an investment in the future of our schools and the quality of education we offer our students. While there may be much that is uncertain in the world, the value of New Paltz United Teachers and what we bring to this district is not one of those things. It’s really time to settle this contract.”
District officials and the Board of Education did not comment directly on the contract negotiations with NPUT, but the short and long range financial plan presentation projected further losses in student population which may impact staffing. In the 2008-09 school year, the NPCSD had 2,297 students. That number ebbed and flowed for close to a decade before a precipitous and steady drop began. In the current school year, there are 1,691 students in the NPCSD. That number is projected to fall to 1,406 for the 2029-30 school year.
Gratto noted that while the student population has fallen from 2,169 in the 2017-18 school year to 1,691 today, total staff has declined from 426.2 to 409.5 over the same period.
In a press release asking for support at the November 20 school board meeting, NPUT said they felt it necessary to go public with the difficult contract negotiations, taking to the street with signs and showing up at district meetings.
“Sometimes it takes disruption to drive real change, and change is possible when we advocate together,” reads the press release. “From parents and educators to students, we will rally together!”
“It feels good to be supported by colleagues and community stakeholders,” said NPUT president Paulette Easterlin in the press release. “It feels really good that we’re standing together and we’re on the same page. We’re willing to put in the work to get what we think that we deserve out of this contract.”
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