The Poughkeepsie Public School Teachers' Association (PPSTA) has filed grievances against the Poughkeepsie City School District regarding the board’s approved resolution on Wednesday, Aug. 27, to have six outside agencies teach and house 159 students this year in the universal pre-kindergarten program which begins this month.
The agencies listed are: Astor Home for Children, Catharine Street Community Center, Catharine Street Community at the Martin Luther King site, Community Family Development, Weekday Nursery at the Dutch Reformed Church and Poughkeepsie Day Nursery School.
According to Superintendent Laval Wilson, the contract wasn’t set up to have the school district run the program.
“We don’t have the room,” Wilson said. “The agencies have prepared their facilities.”
Space is not the only issue, as financially it may be unsettling for the district.
“If the grievances go to arbitration, and arbitration says this is unit work or work which must be performed by teachers and not contracted out, and if arbitration rules that the pre-K program staff members must be teachers, then the district would be forced to pay the teacher rate,” said Wilson.
“It then would cost us approximately $400,000 more than we currently are paying for the pre-K program,” he added, noting that figure would account for salaries and benefits of program staff. Wilson could not comment on how much the district is currently paying for the program.
Wilson said aside from the school board itself, he has spoken with many, including the leadership of the teachers’ union and school board attorneys, regarding the matter.
The law firm representing the district is Shaw, Perelson, May & Lambert, LLP.
“The Board of Education is very supportive of the pre-K program and believes it’s very important for our youngsters. Many of our youngsters came from a city environment, disadvantaged, and the pre-K program is a way for those youngsters to get on track and catch up,” board president Raymond Duncan read from a prepared statement Wednesday night.
“We hope that we will be able to reach an agreement with PPSTA over this, that will not jeopardize the pre-K program,” Duncan said.
“We don’t want to delay the program; we want to get it up and running,” board member Robert Creedon said.
Creedon added, “Karen Markeloff (retired district assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction) worked very hard and diligently in bringing this together last year. The grievance at this time puts us in a hard place … If it’s higher than we had budgeted for, the program would be in jeopardy.”
Wilson said PPSTA has known about the pre-K program plans for the past six or seven months, and money for the program came in the budget two years ago.
PPSTA is a teachers’ union comprised of over 400 members.
PPSTA president Debbie Kardas said at Wednesday night’s meeting it was not PPSTA’s decision to utilize outside agencies for the pre-K program. She said it was the district’s decision.
“PPSTA has always believed in having a strong pre-K program … we need a pre-K program,” Kardas said. “But if you’re (the board) going to do something, it must be done right, and we must do what is right for the children … I’m a firm believer in process and procedure, and doing things correctly.”