PRINCETON, N.J., Sept. 3 — Princeton's public-school teachers voted this morning to authorize a strike, in an effort to pressure the school board to yield on contract language affecting medical benefits and extra pay for playground duty.þþThe teachers' four-year contract expired on June 30, and classes are scheduled to begin on Thursday. The board has already begun to line up replacement teachers, and board offices today were papered with instructions to prospective substitutes.þþBut neither side said it expected a walkout this time. The Princeton public schools have never been struck within the memory of union leaders or the president of the Board of Education, Charlotte Bialek.þþBoth sides said they were aware of the bitter and extended strike last year by teachers in Middletown, N.J., in which some 200 teachers were jailed for defying a back-to-work court order. Last week, the Middletown schools and union negotiators reached a tentative agreement on a contract, and a ratification vote by the union is scheduled for Thursday.þþIn Princeton, Ms. Bialek expressed surprise that a strike vote had been taken so early in the bargaining process, and before a state mediation effort had moved on to fact-finding and arbitration.þþAbout 100 union members attended a brief rally this afternoon, waving signs with messages like ÿFair Contract Nowÿ and ÿWhere's Our Contract?ÿþþSalaries are not a primary issue, both sides agreed. In a school system with some of the highest test scores and rates of Ivy League admissions in the country, Princeton teachers are among the highest paid in a state that outspends nearly every other state in teacher salaries. The starting salary is $39,070 a year; the average for a teacher with 17 years of experience is slightly more than $57,000, and after 25 years, a Princeton teacher can make $71,000.þþJo Szabaga, co-president of the Princeton Regional Education Association, the 300-member teachers' union, said that what upset the union the most was the board's decision to drop contract language that bars school principals from assigning teachers to duties outside the classroom. The board wants elementary school teachers to take playground duty, especially now that all six of the system's schools will become construction zones in a renovation program costing nearly $82 million.þþThe New Jersey School Boards Association told the Princeton board that the language was unenforceable and possibly illegal under state law. The board has appealed to the State Public Employment Relations Commission for a final ruling.þþThe board has asked the teachers to give up the ban on nonclassroom duty in exchange for an agreement to accept extra pay for extra duties, said Ms. Bialek, the school board president. But Ms. Szabaga maintained today that the old language should stay. þþThe teachers also want medical coverage for the families of nontenured teachers.þþMs. Bialek said the board's ability to meet teachers' demands was hamstrung by a state-imposed 3 percent limit on school budget increases. A steady rise in health insurance costs is making it impossible for the board to grant the expansion in benefits that the teachers want while staying under the cap, she said.þþAlthough their contract has expired, Princeton's teachers have gone back to work without a contract three times in the past, and none of the teachers who spoke at today's rally mentioned the possibility of striking.þþHannah Matthews, 15, who is starting at Princeton High, lay on the grass with her friend Ruth Quiles and watched the rally. Ruth, the daughter of a reading teacher, said she wanted the teachers to get their contract and go to work on schedule. But Hannah said she wanted summer vacation to last longer.þþÿI wish they would strike for, like, ever,ÿ Hannah said.þþ
Source: NY Times
