Politics & Government

Teachers Wear Red, Rally Together Against New Christie Legislation

Bridgewater-Raritan staff hold rallies in protest of legislation to change pension and health care.

It was about being unified and rallying together when teachers and staff in all 11 district schools stood in a sea of red outside their respective buildings for 10 minutes before school began Thursday in protest of legislation being introduced in Trenton that would radically change pension plans for public workers.

The rallies were held for teachers to express their support for the New Jersey Education Association leaders fighting the new legislation by wearing red and sending a peaceful message before returning to their regular school days.

“The bill will be discussed in the Senate Budget Committee Thursday, so the NJEA and others are calling for a huge rally in Trenton,” said Steve Beatty, teacher and president of the . “But we couldn’t get down there in large numbers because we’re doing our jobs.”

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Click here for video snippets of the individual rallies.

Instead, Beatty said, the teachers and staff opted to hold rallies before they were due in to the schools to show that they are against the actions in Trenton, but are still caring about the children and their jobs.

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“We are showing our leadership and legislators that we are standing in solidarity, and showing that we are unified,” he said. “We are not going to back down, but we are still doing our jobs.”

physical education teacher Manny Caravano agreed that it is all about standing together.

“This is a symbol of solidarity, demonstrating what’s going on with respect to the proposed increased contribution to the pension,” he said.

The bill, which introduced before the Senate Budget Committee Thursday [with full text available on the New Jersey Legislation website] will make changes to pension and health care benefits for public employees. It is being sponsored by Senator Stephen Sweeney, D-3.

The changes include the elimination of collective bargaining for health care, and raising the retirement age from 55 to 65.

“We are standing up for our rights,” said Lisa Long, a resource room teacher at Van Holten Primary School, as she held her sign declaring “We Will Remember in November.”

For Long, and the rest of the teachers, this is not something against the , it is all about something being done by the state. And, Long said, she does not know if she could afford the change.

“I make $52,000 a year, and I am a single parent of four,” she said. “I can’t afford to pay anymore into my benefits. We are afraid for our retirements.”

Joe Krenetsky, a math teacher at the high school, said he has spent 45 years teaching in the district, and has had his retirement papers in for three years in case something happens with the state.

“I’m not ready to retire, but if I am going to lose thousands, I will,” he said, adding that he was teaching when the state first introduced collective bargaining. “When I started, we said we were going to take less money, but have a pension at the end. Now the state is trying to take away our security, and it’s a bait and switch.”

And, Krenetsky said, it is also about being able to negotiate with the health benefits, which the teachers will lose if the bill goes through.

“Health care is one of the biggest things in collective bargaining,” he said.

music teacher Roberta Maher joined her follow teachers in wearing red and holding signs outside the building before students were dropped off. She said she is very concerned both about what could happen to current teachers’ retirements and incoming teachers.

Although she said she does not want to be cynical, she thinks this change is one way to push older teachers out.

“They say it is about fiscal responsibility, but I think the state is also trying to get people out sooner so they pay out less,” she said. “I hate to think the state is that conniving, but I think it is about weeding out people.”

“I will take a major hit if I retire now,” she added.

Eisenhower Intermediate School health and physical education teacher Deborah Rossi said she has no intention of retiring early because teaching is her passion—but that does not mean she is not worried.

“One of the benefits when you started teaching was to have a pension plan,” she said, adding that she has been in the district for 31 years. “The state back then promised they would put in money. And I am still putting in money.”

Rossi said she understands the financial situation the state is in, particularly as the teachers agreed this year to a salary freeze and to give back the benefits of tuition reimbursement.

“But people will probably retire because of this,” she said. “I don’t have a problem with some of the changes, but we seem to be going backward.”

And for many current teachers, the other biggest concern is the possible loss of new teachers if they believe the benefits of the profession are not as good as they once were.

“If there are not some of the same benefits, I am afraid we might lost some good teachers,” Rossi said.

Long said her daughter was prepared to studying teaching at The College of New Jersey and declared that as her major when she first entered the school. But now, with everything going on, she has changed to undeclared, Long said.

“This is happening too hard and too fast,” she said. “Will we get the best teachers in the future?”

Susan Harwick, an intervention specialist at Eisenhower, said, as she stood outside with her sign too, that she doesn’t know if the teaching profession will be as attractive if all these changes are made.

“We are concerned about the students,” she said. “I don’t know if I would have gone into teaching seeing all that is happening.”

And if the bill goes through, Harwick said, she knows there are going to be many individuals dealing with hard realities.

“Everyone has to understand that if this goes through, there will be a major impact on the teachers,” she said. “I don’t make a salary that I can stay in Bridgewater without the benefits.”

Of course the other biggest concern as part of this bill to those rallying is the loss of negotiating benefits for healthcare.

“It would become that the board decides what they want us to pay,” Krenetsky said.

It’s the issue of the loss of negotiation that has hit the teachers the hardest, they said.

“One of our biggest concerns is taking away the ability to negotiate,” said Rachel Merino, a sixth grade teacher at Eisenhower and the chief B-REA representative for the building. “The money is not the biggest issue.”

And Beatty said the information about the bill has not been very forthcoming despite past promises from the legislature about transparency.

“Something is changing for thousands of employees, and it hasn’t been released and no one can go on the record with this,” he said. “It’s very clear that this is being delayed until the last possible second.”

“There was no specific text on the bill available, and it boggles my mind especially with a governor who talks about transparency,” he added. “He’s involving himself in this hypocritically.”

Beatty said the entire rally was put together fairly quickly, first having been discussed on Saturday. The organization approached all building representatives on Wednesday.

“Getting 1,200 people together isn’t easy, but when we need them to respond, they respond,” he said.

And for that reason, much of the staff—all wearing red and gathering together outside their buildings—wanted to make sure they were showing their support for their colleagues and leadership in the union.

“I feel we’re a team and we have to support one another,” Rossi said.

James Riccobono, principal at the high school, said he knew about the planned rally in advance, and had no problem with the teachers staging a peaceful protest that did not affect their contracted time in the schools.

“Our teachers are always very respectful of procedure and this was a proper effort,” he said. “There was no violation of their contractual obligations and it was not disruptive.”

Riccobono said he understands why people are against the new legislation.

“It’s sort of like in the seventh inning of a baseball game, changing the rules of the game,” he said. “I don’t think people think that’s fair, and it’s not fair to those who are already working.”

Superintendent of Schools Michael Schilder expressed a similar sentiment about the staff holding the rally.

“The B-REA has chosen a time and place to assemble that does not cause any interruption to the instructional day, and therefore I have no problem with the rally,” he said.

For the staff themselves, it was all about supporting each other and taking a stand against the legislation.

“We are fighting for our rights,” Long said.

“We can’t go to Trenton, but we are doing this in support of all public workers,” Merino said.


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