The teachers have been without a contract since June 30, 2006. The education association president, Dorothy Maggio, said the teachers want to "maintain their salary guide structure, get a reasonable raise and have a safe and clean environment to work in."

The school board is concerned about a four-percent levy cap introduced last year, said Annitti. "The school board’s hands are tied," he added.

Lawrence Bongiovanni, a member and former chairman of the board’s negotiating team, said school boards are now held to a higher standard than municipalities. "As long as the state puts those kinds of restraints on us, we need to be cost-conscious," he said.

Bongiovanni said he would also look out for taxpayers when it comes to negotiations, who have been "getting killed" with taxes statewide.

Teachers came to a Nov. 14 board meeting brandishing picket signs. "The staff came to make the point that it was unheard of to be this deep into negotiations without signing off on any contract changes," said Maggio.

Annitti disagreed, saying many districts are at stalemates over contracts. In addition to a tighter levy cap, the school board is waiting for a new school funding formula. "Everyone is looking at cuts," he said.

Bongiovanni said it was inaccurate to say nothing has been signed off on. "We have agreed to certain language in the contract," he said. "We haven’t agreed on salary issues."

The process has been stalled by a number of factors; notably the fact that the school board’s negotiating team chairman has changed three times since negotiations began. Richard Evans has taken over as chairman of the board’s negotiating team, replacing Bongiovanni before him.

Maggio accused Bongiovanni of stalling the process by arriving late to meetings and making excuses to pout off negotiations. Bongiovanni said that any late arrivals were not part of any attempt to stall negotiations. "We tried to be as punctual as possible and to accommodate the association as best as we can," he said.

However, he noted people the all-volunteer board often has issues such as working late or dealing with traffic.

The previous staff contract provided a 3.7-percent wage increase. However, teachers are held to a salary guide and raises are distributed differently for teachers, depending on longevity and education. For example, a teacher at the top of the salary guide would have received a 2.9-percent increase each year. A Becton teacher with 14 years or more of experience with a master’s degree and 30 extra college credits makes $98,000 a year.

A teacher with a master’s degree at Step 7, which means they have been teaching in the district for seven years, would have earned $57,569 for the 2002-2003 school year, when the last contract took effect. By the 2005-2006 school year, that teacher would be at Step 10 and would be earning $73,195 with the raises, according to Annitti. This would mean a 27-percent salary increase for that teacher.

While Maggio did not discuss details about the education association’s proposed salary guide, she said the proposal was rejected by the board. Annitti said four or five teachers would need to be cut if the board had accepted that proposal, said Maggio.

Despite their differences, Maggio believes the conflicts will be resolved in mediation and Bongiovanni agreed. "We will get a contract. Sooner or later it will happen. The press release will say something like, ‘both sides agree that this contract provides the best possible settlement.’ In the meanwhile, we have agreed to disagree," said Maggio.