Math lesson

For more than 300 days, the Middlesex Education Association has worked with an expired contract, its members contending they want a new, “fair” agreement. As the dispute with the Board of Education approaches the one-year mark, the two sides do not appear close to a deal.

One MEA member used numbers to explain a thorny bargaining matter during comments to board members on Tuesday, May 20,

That issue is the new class scheduling that awaited Middlesex High School (MHS) teachers when they reported last September for the 2024-25 academic year.

The MEA asserts that the new MHS “block” class scheduling, is contrary to the expired contract the union is working under.

MHS physical education teacher Gary Brenner illustrated the compensation issue inherent in the scheduling change. He was one of several dozen MEA members who attended the meeting. About 10 of them commented on the bargaining stalemate. The board, its administrators, and attorney did not respond.

MHS staff now teach in three, 84-minute “blocks” each day, Brenner said. In the past, teachers taught six, 40-minute classes. The new system has teachers teaching for 252 minutes daily, 12 more than the 240 minutes under the old scheduling, he said.

Twelve minutes daily, across 180 academic days “adds up,” Brenner said. For a school year, that’s more than 2,000 additional minutes, amounting to five entire school days, Brenner pointed out. He added that planning time suffers under the block system.

Brenner said he and most colleagues don’t have a problem with block scheduling and have adapted. But the change was instituted, he noted, “without teachers being compensated financially.”

The increase from 240 minutes of teaching to 252 minutes, amounts to a 5% daily increase in instructional time.

Brenner urged board members – some of whom are teachers elsewhere – to consider if they would like to work under those circumstances. He noted that while MHS teachers are working under block scheduling, MEA members at the other district schools are not. Instructors at other Middlesex schools have not been asked to increase their instructional time.

“We are only asking to be treated with the same respect, appreciation and decency that our peers are getting in other districts,” he said.

Another numbers issue reared its head at the meeting. After hearing objections from teachers and several taxpayers, the board tabled a proposed policy regarding tuition for children of district staff.

The policy would have eliminated tuition payments for children of teachers who do not reside in Middlesex Borough. A New Jersey district typically charges tuition to students who attend its schools but live outside its borders.

The policy was proposed as a perk to help lure new teachers to the district. But it generated questions of fairness, particularly in light of the MEA’s unresolved contract situation.

Currently, district teachers who live outside of the borough can get a 50% discount on their child’s Middlesex tuition.

MHS teacher Melissa Ziomek said staff who live in Middlesex, like herself, support the district through their property taxes and get only a 10% discount on their child’s aftercare.

“It doesn’t seem right,” she said of the proposed tuition policy.

Ziomek also found the policy contrary to past statements by Superintendent Dr. Roberta Freeman that the district has a classroom shortage. 

“You say we’re out of space,” Ziomek told Freeman and board members. “We’re going to just offer free tuition? Does that make sense?”

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