Good evening, President Sales and members of the Board of Education.
My name is Rob Scavo, President of the Western Suffolk BOCES Faculty Association.
I am here tonight to express the deep frustration and disappointment of our Unit 1 instructional staff. We have now been out of contract for 14 months, while negotiations have been ongoing for approximately 20 months, yet there has been little meaningful movement toward resolving our contract.
The impact of this prolonged process goes far beyond dollars and cents. It has negatively affected staff morale and, more importantly, has left many of our instructional professionals feeling unappreciated, unacknowledged, and undervalued for the work they do every day.
We are not asking for an unreasonable contract. In fact, when you consider the significant concessions and givebacks our unit has made over the past 12 years, our current proposals are modest. We are simply asking for a fair and equitable agreement—one that keeps pace with surrounding school districts and allows Western Suffolk BOCES to recruit and retain the highly trained instructional professionals that our students deserve.
Our teachers work with some of the most vulnerable special needs students and also prepare students in Career and Technical Education programs to become job and career-ready. Despite the financial challenges this agency has faced over the past decade, our staff has continued to provide a high-quality education without compromising our students' needs.
I also want this Board to understand that our instructional staff has played a significant role in making Western Suffolk BOCES affordable and sustainable for our component school districts through unit contract concessions and salary increments well below the rate of CPI and Inflation.
At the September 8th Board of Education meeting, I will return to address this Board in greater detail and outline the sacrifices and concessions our unit has made over the years—concessions that have saved Western Suffolk BOCES millions of dollars, while never sacrificing the quality of education provided to our students.
Tonight, I respectfully urge this Board to take a more active role in helping bring these negotiations to a successful conclusion.
We want to feel valued. We want to feel respected. And we want to feel that we are once again part of the Western Suffolk BOCES family.
Our members have demonstrated their commitment to this agency for years. We are simply asking Western Suffolk BOCES to demonstrate that same commitment to us.
Thank you.
