Crowd calls for end to impasse Warren tech dispute. Freeholders prevented from asking questions. Friday, December 22, 2006 • By Sara K. Satullo • The Express-Times WHITE TWP. | Warren County Technical School teachers and concerned parents packed into a freeholder meeting Wednesday, asking the board to help break the deadlock in contract negotiations. The teachers have been in negotiations since December of 2005 and working without a contract since June. Ed Yarusinsky, president of the Warren Tech Education Association, said the association has been told the school board's stance in negotiations is at the behest of the freeholder board. The technical school's board members are freeholder appointees. Contract negotiations are currently stalled over the school board's demand that teachers pay health care premium costs. Yarusinsky said quality teachers are attracted to Warren Tech for the health benefits, not the salaries. Teachers at Warren Technical School are among the lowest paid in the county, Yarusinsky said. A starting teacher is paid $32,500 and increases incrementally to $55,264 at the 20-year mark. He told the freeholders the school board has proposed increasing the salary guide for new employees if the association accepts the insurance concessions. "In essence you'd be putting money in one pocket of an employee while removing it from another's pocket," he said. The association said talks have stalled because health benefits are the first issue on the table and the teachers refuse to budge. The association said it does not know what type of concessions the school board wants them to make. The freeholders were going to ask Yarusinsky questions until counsel advised them not to while in contract negotiations. Deborah Bodayle, the PTA president, told the freeholders parents want to see the contract settled. "It would have been a nice Christmas present for them," she said. "I'd hate to see it go any further and have it become an adverse effect on the students." Yarusinsky said so far the educational process has not been affected. The association has picketed before school hours, wears buttons saying "settle now" and has been vocal at meetings, he said. Current enrollment at the school is about 420. The school offers a dozen programs, including culinary arts, communications, visual and theater arts, automotive, machine trades and health sciences. Efforts to reach school board members Thursday were unsuccessful. Reporter Sara K. Satullo can be reached at 908-475-2174 or by e-mail at ssatullo@express-times.com. © 2006 The Express-Times. Used by NJ.com with permission.