Hey Wade, the 2% cap was not meant to be a cap on teachers salaries but meant to force bloated and corrupt local boards to stop padding the budget in the administration side with waste like a personal F-150 truck that includes free maintenance for the unqualified Superintendent and made-up political patronage jobs for your friends on town council. How can you justify bringing in outside people to be principals with a large pay raise when you can't afford to pay teachers!

Cut the goddam waste in the administration before you start crying poor to the teachers! They are the reasons why you are here! Maybe if the motor pool didn't have to waste taxpayer money installing hunting equipment including a deer rack on the Super's truck we would have money to pay the teachers! How much taxpayer money is pissed away supporting Bilodeau's deer hunting hobby?

Cut the waste and do you job! The 2% cap exists to make you and the board do the HARD work such as saying no to your political friends. Our schools are no longer a patronage pit and cash cow to make you and your friends rich.

Another article where no details are provided.

Can we have an answer to 2 Simple questions -
What does the union want?
What has the district offered?

I'm so sick of seeing those signs in car windows when I drop my child off at school. I work everyday without a contract and so do thousands of other parents. I'm sure both sides are to blame to a certain degree. Both sides need to grow up and stop demanding they get everything they want and find a compromise.

Bearsmom

The bus drives have no contract either.

Pay the good teachers more and fire the lazy good old boys club teachers.

The bus drivers have no contract because they made an agreement with the last superintendent to open their contracts and he gave them an extra year in return. So instead of their contracts ending in 2011 they ended in 2012 with the teachers. Which only serves to give the teachers more leverage because if the teachers decide to strike so will the bus drivers.

It would be nice to know the sticking points in the negotiations. But the economy is stagnant and education already makes up a large portion of our already too high taxes. I am by no means an expert but I do have teacher friends collecting a pension in their mid fifties. You wont find that in the private sector. But then again a township that cant afford to come to an agreement with teachers shouldn't be spending 250, 000 dollars on a monster truck.

The five educators charged in the sex scandal—teachers Jeffrey Logandro, 32, Nicholas Martinelli, 28, and Daniel Michielli, 27, and administrators Catherine DePaul, 55, and Jernee Kollock, 39—currently are suspended with pay.

i peronally think teachers get paid fairly will consideing that they work 9 months a year, but thats not the point i want to make we have are spending a ton of money on a armor vehiclle where we could have used it here or hiring more police, an i know about th capital fund but there are ways around that.

Tell me Lilli - WHAT IS IMPORTANT! My opinion is that it is IMPORTANT for teachers to know their boundaries and NOT CROSS the line with their students. It is IMPORTANT that teachers do not ABUSE the AUTHORITY given to them. It is IMPORTANT that parents feel safe to send their kids to school, NO MATTER WHAT AGE! It is IMPORTANT that heads of Authority in a school district be held to a higher standard rather than the slime that was brought out and exposed. It is important to respect those teachers who really are in it to make a difference and RECOGNIZE those who are wolves in sheep’s clothing. As a resident of Camden County, I have a right to COMPLAIN that my tax money is STILL GOING TOWARDS the salaries of the teachers and administrators who corrupted the very fiber of what should be a safe haven for kids. Seriously, I think you need to prioritize !!!

as i said they could have used the money to pay the teachers or hire more police, do we really need a armor vehicle that is already provider for by he county or is gloucese twp that bad as camden is. nothing against the teachers but no one in pvt sector gets 2 months off with pay , but your job is hard an i realize it.

Isn't the fox watching the hen house? Check teachers benefits and sick time used. Thier benefits are better than Township employees who are so often criticized. And, it seems my kids has at least one teacher out sick every other day. So thier 9 month year plus every holiday plus thier own (teachers convention that they don't attend and go to Florida) isn't really that but they get full time pay. And, they get larger raises every year than Township employees. Why? Give them nothing, just like everyone else gets.

They don't get the summed off with pay. They are not allowed to collect unemployment either. It's written into their contracts. So some teachers do have to get summer jobs. So do the bus drivers. The teachers were getting their healthcare paid for in full. Because of the law they are not anymore and rightly so. Private sector people have to pay for their insurance so should teachers. What usually ends up being the issue is raises and how much they're going to pay in insurance. I'm sorry but in an economy like this with so many unemployed and just getting by, demanding a certain % raise every year doesn't sit well with the taxpayers. Whether that's fair or not its the way it is.

No cursing on Patch. If your comment was deleted because of profanity, you're welcome to repost the PG-rated version.

Lilli, do you know what the sticking points are in the contracts? If you do could you please share them? My main concern is that the salaries should not be out of proportion with the private sector. I send my children to private school and from my personal experience I feel they are receiving a better education from teachers I know are making less money with less benefits. I am willing to pay out of pocket for a better education. It seems to me every time a contract is up for renewal it is more, more, more. I could only wish I had 2 to 3 months off a year and had the benefits we give our teachers. I hope that I am not coming off as anti-teacher but the compensation has to be realistic. Higher compensation does not equal better teachers.

It would be nice to know what the contract issues are so taxpayers/parents would be educated as to who to provide support during this impasse.

Before you put a teacher down, please remember these are the people who are spending 7 hours a day, 5 days a week with YOUR children. This is probably more time than some of you parents see your own children. These are the people who teach and keep your children safe, while you are out earning a living yourself. There are bad "seeds" in any profession, but their are LOTS and LOTS of teachers that go WAY above and beyond what are contract states because we truly LOVE what we do, so please give us the respect that we deserve. For all of you complaining that we only work 9 months out of the year, what is stopping you from getting your education degree?

"our contract" spelling correction

The teachers having sex with students was BHP Regional. Nothing to do with GL Twp B.O.E. The high school teachers are without contracts also. No one gets free health benefits anymore. EVERYONE pays. Teachers and Bus drivers all have to get summer jobs if they want money in the summer time. Some bus drivers work 2- 3 jobs to make ends meat. They only get paid on average 13.00-14.00 dollars an hour. for 4-6.5 hours a day depending on run. Take out all the taxes and dues and so forth and a driver who makes say $800.00 gross a pay every two weeks only takes home about $450.00 to $500.00 in take home pay.

Why doesn't anyone address the issue of the separate school districts - Gloucester Twp. (K-8) and Black Horse Pike Regional (9-12). Why are we paying for two superintendents, countless assistants, and curriculum supervisors? The 2% budget cap could be adhered to by eliminating positions at the top (the people who make 6 figures) instead of nickle and diming the middle class teachers.

Just a quick question How long have Gloucester Twp Public Schools been using John Wade as a Lawyer? What kinda money are we paying this guy? He seems to have a very strong hold on the School district, Maybe its time we gave another Law Firm in Gloucester Township a chance. Might save us some money and new thinking.

GT teachers do not get paid on holidays and summers off. They have a 184-day contract...so divide their annual salary by the number of contracted days. If you are going to compare them to the private sector, take education (most of them have a master's degree or higher), certification (add more university credits to their master's degree. Most teachers have more than one certificate), professional development hours required by the state on top of the education requirements and years of experience. They DO NOT match salary (include benefits and insurance too) of anyone in the private sector with the same amount of qualifications.

Ask yourself this: Has your property tax gone down? You're still paying high property taxes that "go" to school expenditures. GT Teachers are on the same salary schedule less the amount that they are contributing to their health insurance. Where is that leftover money? The money already budgeted? The school board is sitting on it. Earning interest on it, oh, and possibly buying more things for the township that are not needed or hiring more administration, with higher pay.

Ask yourself this: Currently, the GT BOE does not have a Business Manager. Who used to be the business manager? The current interim superintendent. Who is doing the BM job? The current interim superintendent. Check the BOE finances and make sure that no one is double dipping.

Still nobody has said what the sticking points are in the negotiations. Surely someone here knows. Its difficult to form an educated opinion when the facts are not available.

I cannot say how things are structered here, but in other towns teachers have the choice of collecting paychecks over 10 months or over 12 months. They are essentially salaried with a yearly salary, not a daily salary. Their checks are not reduced when there are no school days.

I agree I would like to know the details of the impasse. The article says it is more than just salary. What are the other points?

GT Teachers are given no option - they can only get paid over 10 months: Sept To Jun

While the District was in a downward spiral for a few years now, the retirement of Seddon and the School Board's political agenda has thrown the downward spiral into hyper-speed. The Board moving their puppet Bilodeau into "Interim Superintendent" a man with no teaching experience and very little people skills, as evident by the mass exodus of some very good people in the district to administrative positions in other districts instead of working under Bilodeau and this board. Think about it how bad must it really be in our district for the Administrators who left to give up accumulated sick days, tenure and a district they are familiar with to just pick up and start over. The attempt recently of mass transfers of Principals in the middle of a school year (talk about a disruption to a building). Contract talks with Teachers and Support Staff that can be best described as a mess. A budget where money is moved around to different accounts every month. Why? Do they want to confuse the public by keep moving it until we lose track and give up? Remember the Board presented a Budget we voted on it, so was it real or was it just numbers and once passed they would spend it the way THEY wanted to? This Board and current Administration has a history of ignoring the opinion of parents, the public and even the employees and doing as they please. The time has come to replace this Board and Administration with people that will listen and respect our opinions.

This township is becoming a cesspool for corruption, hacks and patronage jobs.

The Board's appointment of Bilodeau as "Interim Superintendent" speaks volumes of how out of touch they are and how political this district has become. They will tell anybody who listens the appointment of Bilodeau, a man with no classroom time and minimal people skills was made because they couldn't find any qualified people to fill the position after almost a one year search. REALLY! Maybe no qualified canidates willing to be the Board's puppet. Time to start cleaning house and getting new Board members and rid ourselves of political hacks like Collins, Carr and the rest of them and get people that will put children first. People need to keep going to the meetings and keeping the heat on the Board and Bilodeau, with tough questions and the demand for straight and truthful answers.

I'm pretty sure none of the current board members even have children in the Gloucester Twp school district anymore. As board president Linda Gilch said at the last meeting, any job action "isn't hurting us." Can't we find some people with a vested interested in the school to run for the board?

We do have to vote in new board members, but who ever runs but the incumbents? The classic move by this board is to run incumbents (and they usually run unopposed) as a "ticket" together. Then, a few months after the election, one will "retire". Know what happens then? THE CURRENT BOARD GETS TO APPOINT THEIR CHOICE FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE TERM. So, two years later, the "new" member runs as an incumbent of the "ticket"! Check into this, I think this has happened several times in the last 10 years!

If we can't get people to run then the only thing to do is press this Board with tough questions at every meeting demand answers and hold this Board and accountable. Ask questions at meetings, call Administration building, ask questions if you see them shopping. Just keep asking questions and if don't want to answer get the Courier Post or TV news involved, maybe they will answer then.

The GT BOE is only interested in political gain. They hired Orlando Mercado as a supervisor and word on the street is that he's not even certified for the position. He has no K-12 experience and is politically connected like the board. The town needs to get involved, put up some real candidates for school board and tell this board to take a hike.

I have not looked into the Orlando Mercado aspect of this issue but have read enough questions and criticisms about the situation on the patch to know that there appears to be something up. So, I'm wondering why no one has raised this question during the public portion of the GT council meeting. What's up, people?

Darren, why are you picking on me? I said I don't know the particulars on this one as well as the fact that I've had no problem standing up at council meeting and voicing my concerns. Were you sleeping when I did so?

The scariest part of all these comments is when someone has something to say about not supporting the teachers, the grammar in their comments shows that they themselves are writing on a pre-school level. Please stop calling it a "fact-finding" in every other union in the world it's called arbitration. Also, my report from the last board meeting showed that the board was obviously disinterested with the concerns of the teachers, ill-equipped to answer the "tough" questions of the parents who pay their salaries as well. So thank you for your contempt, have a nice day.

At the January 9th FSA Family and School Association meeting this was announced: The BOE made 2 appointments: Dr. Joanne Acerba currently principal of Mullen will be the Director of Curriculum. Orlando Mercado will be Supervisor of Student Services. This will include but not limited to residency and homeless.

Let's see the Board and our "Interim Superintendent" constantly cry poor stating they need more money, cutting staff and programs because they can't afford it, asking employees and parents for sacrifices. Yet they find room in the already bloated Administrative staff for a brand new position "Supervisor of Student Support Services" and who do they find for the position Orlando Mercado part of the township democrat machine. Let's see Ray Carr, Democrat Club President, Bill Collins, perpetual Democratic candidate who can't win an election except school board, lucky us. Another political favor forced down our throat that we have to pay for.
Meanwhile an "Interim Superintendent" with no classroom experience with District supplied truck and credit card for those lunches for friends, are they even looking for a Superintendent? A new position for one of there democratic friend's (six figures + Benefits) and we have to sacrifice. When will it end, when will this Board and Adminstration stop with the games and start to sacrifice themselves. When will people say enough!

Maybe this "fact-finding" is more like a discovery process? With any luck the union get the hard facts on the fical nightmare that is the district's books: the shuffling around of money with no explanation, the over-ordering of supplies that disappear, the hiring of friends and family for no show jobs, the additional perks administration members get, usage of district resources like they are the administrations personal servants, etc...

Remember the 2% cap was a way to force the bloated administrations to cut down on their waste and graft. Given the horrible state of the districts finances, do you really think Bilodau is worth $150k?

Next Board meeting Feb. 25 at Lewis School 7pm. Should be interesting contract impasse, Budget transfers, and questions not answered. As someone said earlier a Keystone Cops sideshow.

Nobody who works for GT schools would dare to speak out against the wasteful board because they are afraid they will be transferred, fired and unemployed by the end of June. Everyone keeps their mouth shut and nobody gets hurt.

I worked for Gloucester Twp Public Schools for over 9 years and was fired by the school board and John Bilodau for not calling out sick while I was in a COMA! I have the paper work to back it up. That whole system over there is messed up they fire sick people all the time. They have a special hack doctor they send you too in Marlton, I was cleared to go back to work by University of Penn doctors to go back to work. They sent me to some quack named Tim Pinsky http://bestmedconsultants.net. They do what ever they want when they want. There are so many things gone on over there it would amaze most of you.

There is very isn't anything this Board or Bilodeau can do that would suprise me. Wait I'm wrong there is one thing that would suprise me, THE RIGHT THING!

Fact finding means the union is looking at other districts around the state to argue a comparable settlement. Can't argue with that. GT has far fewer administrators than most districts this size (even when they were fully staffed) and pays them far less. All of the administrators who left in the past year are making more money than they did in GT. The BOE is beyond cheap compared to other districts locally and despite property taxes, NJ has similar per pupil spending to PA where property taxes are lower.

It's not the teachers' fault your taxes are high - it's the tax system.

I agree, the tax system puts the local taxpayers at odds with their local school system and that is just a bad system. As far as the people that left GT to other positions- people don't leave tenured positions for a few extra bucks. If you have any teachers in your famly, they will tell you that. They ran from a superintendent that has no clue and a school board that is out of control. Our kids are suffering for it.

But. BrianT, virtually every administrator in the GT district is excessive cost to taxpayers, in my opinion, because of the redundancy that exists by having separate administrations for our high schools and our K-8 schools.

Fact Finding is more than a union thing.

A Fact Finder is a supposedly neutral third party hired by the state. He takes arguments that are presented to him from both the union and the administration, and makes objective recommendations.

Problems with this: 1)The recommendations are not binding; 2)Due to Christie cutbacks, there are only two Fact Finders in the state. With hundreds of NJ districts with expired teacher contracts, it takes months and months from when arguments are presented until recommendations are given.

This situation, along with the legal restraints against teacher strikes, gives school boards all the leverage, and zero incentive to bargain in good faith to settle contracts.

Does anyone have more information about the after school tutoring program that as abruptly ended this week because of budget misappropriations? My child came from school and told me the SNAP program ended becasue "they ran out of money". This was confirmed by district employees.

How can a program like this simply run out of money when they have a fixed set of children for a fixed period of time? How many other programs have been cut because of the district administration's incompetience.

As a township resident I am concerned we can't manage a simple fiscal ledger. As a parent I am outraged that any of my children come home saying the school ran out of money to help him.

Where are the school boards priorities? Where did the money for this program go? Looking at the last meeting's minutes hundreds of thousands of dollars were moved around into "Misc Admin" accounts. What are these?

GT residents need to keep pushing the board to give them answers. Parents need to pay attention and ask questions. Where is your money really going? Do you see it in your child's school? So many comments blame the teachers and feel they don't deserve anything, but these teachers are educating and caring for your children. They don't even have the resources most other districts have in the classroom. Many comments are so untrue.They don't have summers off. They have July and August off, and that's if they're not working another job. August is spent in the classroom preparing for the upcoming school year. So, maybe they have off a month...that's 4 weeks vacation...plus holidays during the year, UNPAID! They also work past their contracted 6.5 hrs. It takes more than a 1/2 hr prep time to plan, prepare, grade, call parents, write notes, and take care of anything else that involves students and the school day.The district's money mess isn't the teachers' fault.

For those who bash teachers, check this out...
Teachers’ hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work10 months a year. It’s time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do,babysit.We can get that for less than minimum wage.That’s right. Let’s give them $3 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school.That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch and plan– that equals 6 1/2 hours).Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children. Now how many students do they teach in a day,maybe 30? So that’s $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day.However, remember they only work 180 days a year.I am not going to pay them for any vacations.LET’S SEE…That’s $585 X 180= $105,300 per year. (Hold on. My calculator needs new batteries.) What about those special education teachers and the ones with master’s degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour.That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year.Wait a minute — there’s something wrong here.There sure is!The average teacher’s salary (nationwide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student– a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your kids!)
WHAT A DEAL!

Just looked at Monday's School Board meeting agenda and guess what? Suprise, suprise the shell game continues, more budget transfers. Keep moving the money around until people lose track, and we still get to look forward to the May, June buying spree.Hard to believe they have all this extra money in these accounts that they can move money around every month. Wonder what other surprises Bilodeau and the Board have that's not on the agenda. You have to know they wil try to slip something by most. Time to bring this Board and Bilodeau into the light.

Do you think the Board and Bilodeau are finally willing to start doing the right thing?