Cherry Hill teachers irked by in-service day scheduling

Members of the Cherry Hill Education Association reported to work Friday, the day after New Year's - causing some to question the motive behind the less-than-desired workday.

Martin Sharofsky, president of the CHEA, which represents about 1,300 teachers, counselors, secretaries, support staff, and custodians, said his membership reported for duty as required by the Cherry Hill School District.

The district picked Jan. 2 as a "professional-development day" - one of five in-service days required this year for staff. Cherry Hill was the only district in the state to designate Jan. 2 as such a day. But Sharofsky said that not much professional enhancement took place.

"I would a call it a day in need of better preparation," he said between visits to schools to see what was taking place.

"If this was truly a professional-development day, then it should have been used wisely, so people could feel like they truly gained something out of it. For many, this goal was not achieved."

Maureen Reusche, superintendent of the district, defended the day.

"When we created the calendar, we had initially placed this in-service day in August," Reusche wrote in an e-mail early Friday. "The feedback we received indicated a desire to move the in-service day out of August.

"When moving an in-service day, we have to carefully look at where it will be placed and the impact upon the student calendar," she said. "This seemed like a good option."

Sharofsky said his union's members all wore black T-shirts with the CHEA logo Friday, which was the 166th day that they have been without a new contract. The last one expired June 30, 2014.

He questioned whether Friday's in-service day had anything to do with union members' refusing to start the current school year before Sept. 1.

Sharofsky said that between Sept. 1 and June 30, the school year is nonnegotiable. Teachers are contractually obligated to work 182 teacher-student days and five in-service days, for a total of 187 days.

"This past year, the school district and administration wanted us to come back in earlier, at the end of August," he said. "The union said, we will not start until Sept. 1 or later. We started Sept. 1. They had to reschedule."

He said the district then informed union members that they had to come in Jan. 2.

The CHEA and the district have been in contract talks since spring. Negotiations have gotten intense.

After the sides declared an impasse in October, Sharofsky said, a mediator was brought in. They had their first meeting with the mediator in mid-December, and another is scheduled for this month.

Being forced to come in Friday just added to his members' annoyance level, he said.

"There were no facilitators to run the smaller groups in some cases," he said. "It's difficult for staff members and their family to come in for one day. Why heat up all these buildings for one day? There's no rhyme or reason.

"A lot of vacations were cut short," he said. "A lot of teachers had to plan what to do with their own kids, since no other school district was in on Friday."

Reusche dismissed the suggestion that asking staff to come in Friday was to punish the CHEA. "I do not work that way," she said. "We had an in-service day planned - students were not in school today."

The district acted within its discretion, according to the state. Like every other district in New Jersey, it can pick and choose in-service days.

"It's up to the individual school district what their holidays and breaks are," Allison Kobus, spokeswoman for the state Department of Education, said this week. "Districts are able to make their own holidays and in-service days, and some of those are on holidays."

Kobus said there were plenty of examples of such scheduling. Central Regional School District in Ocean County, for instance, designated Oct. 13, Columbus Day, as closed for students, but an in-service day for staff.

The Toms River Regional School District declared Sept. 2 as the first day of in-service for teachers, but classes were not yet in session. The district also closed its schools Election Day, but it was an in-service day for the teaching staff.

The Clayton Public School District in Gloucester County designated Oct. 10, the Friday before Columbus Day, as a full in-service day for teachers, but students were off.