Board, teachers ready to fact-find Union, administrators appear upbeat about tonight's meeting, reaching settlement soon. Thursday, May 31, 2007 • By DANIEL HAUSMANN • The Express-Times PHILLIPSBURG | The first face-to-face meeting of negotiators for the school board and teachers union didn't yield a new contract. However it did yield smiling faces and optimism from both sides at Wednesday's school board meeting that a contract could be signed before seniors don caps and gowns. The district's negotiating committee met with teachers last Friday without the school's administrative team. "We were able to discuss things openly and honestly; there was good discussion on both sides," board Vice President Tom McGuire said. "We didn't get to a point where we had a memorandum of agreement." The teachers have been without a contract since July 2006. Both sides haven't been able to agree on pay raises and whether teachers should pay part of their health care. The board took discussion of the negotiations behind closed doors in the middle of Wednesday night's meeting. The board was briefed on the Friday discussions and reopened the public session after about 45 minutes. McGuire announced during a committee report that the board and union would go ahead with a fact-finding session scheduled for tonight. Phillipsburg Education Association President Barbara English addressed the board and thanked them for extending an olive branch last week. Afterward she could not be reached for comment. During tonight's session, a fact finder will compile information from both parties in separate rooms. The fact finder will then write up recommendations that could lead to a contract. McGuire has never been through a fact-finding session but remained confident. "I think we can get to an agreement," he said. Wednesday night's exchange marked a stark difference in the way the contract negotiations have appeared in 2007. In prior meetings, the frustration of being without a deal was evident on both sides, including a vote of no confidence by the board against Superintendent Gordon Pethick in regards to the negotiations. That came after an ethics charge filed by Pethick against board negotiating Chairman Kevin DeGerolamo was tossed out. Pethick didn't have a problem with the administrators being shut out of the Friday sit-down with teachers. "Whatever it takes to get the contract settled is good," Pethick said. The district covers premiums for 402 teachers enrolled in the health plan. The district paid $8.2 million in health care for all employees in the 2005-06 school year, slightly less than 14 percent of the district's budget. The median salary for the district in 2005-06 was $56,218, according to the state Department of Education. The state median average for a K-12 district is $53,871. The last contract included a 3.8 percent average annual salary increase. Reporter Daniel Hausmann can be reached at 610-258-7171 or by e-mail at dhausmann@express-times.com.