Cranford Teacher Prez Concerned Westfield Contract Could Take Teachers

The president of the Cranford Education Association has voiced concern that her district's lack of a contract and Westfield's new teacher contract could send teacher candidates to Westfield over Cranford.

CEA President Beth Lambe said she could see prospective teachers headed towards Westfield due to the new contract, which includes a 3.9-percent raise, along with increased health care givebacks. She expressed the thought in an interview with Patch during Wednesday's teachers' union picket of the Westfield offices of Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) and Assemblywoman Nancy Munoz (R-Summit).

Lambe said the education and property tax reform proposals from Gov. Chris Christie, which are opposed by the teachers' union, are a cause of concern in Cranford's on-going contract negotiations. She said passage of the governor's ban could negatively impact the negotiations. Westfield Education Association President Kim Schumacher has said similar comments regarding future negotiations.

Westfield's contract, adopted on March 9, includes the increased health care givebacks on top of the new state mandated givebacks. It also holds Westfield's $58,000 base salary flat for three years. The Westfield contract has been a source of contention in the community since the March 17 announcement that Christie was slashing Westfield's state education aid by $4.22 million. Former BOE member Richard Solomon's vocal defense of the contract is thought to have contributed to his defeat for a fourth term in April. BOE member Mitch Slater, who unseated Solomon, has called for reopening the contract, a move which has been opposed by Schumacher.

Cranford has been without a contract since June 30 of last year. At issue includes pay raises and health care contributions. The CEA has resisted a pay freeze proposed by the Cranford Board of Education.

Lambe noted that many of her members and other teachers statewide are in the profession to teach and resisted calls from Christie and other opponents of teacher pay freezes that they are looking to make money.

"Ninety nine percent of the people who go into education do not do it for money," she said.