Lynn school salary hikes risk rebuke

LYNN – A late addition to this week’s School Committee agenda could put an abrupt stop to raises for School Department employees as over 100 laid off employees hit the streets this summer looking for new jobs.Committee member Donna Coppola has filed a motion to put a freeze on non-union salary and stipend increases in the wake of massive budget cuts that have cost several teachers their jobs.The longtime committee member said she simply cannot justify employees looking for raises of any kind while the district is handing pink slips to 92 licensed teachers and over 30 additional department employees.Stipends are given out to athletic coaches, club leaders and teachers who participate in extra-curricular programs outside of their job descriptions – something that Coppola supports.But speaking Monday, she said by filing this motion the committee would prevent those stipends from becoming increased during tough budget times.”We have lost a lot of staff. Close to 90 licensed teachers are gone and because of that I am concerned about people coming to us looking for raises. I just want it to be up front that this is not the time,” she said. “Everyone should get paid for what they do, I fully support that. But at this point I just don’t think that there should be any increases outside of the negotiated contracts.”The freeze would only affect raises requested in addition to negotiated union step increases, which the Committee is required to uphold.Coppola’s motion will come on the same night as a previously scheduled executive session where Committee members are expected to negotiate the contracts of three department employees and could approve an increase in their salaries.Some members of the committee are concerned that Coppola is attempting to block those negotiations with her motion, even though under union contract the executive session would still take place if her motion passes.According to several sources, Assistant Attendance and Discipline Specialists Matthew Durgin and George Bakas, along with Transportation Head David Hegan have been negotiating raises with the Committee for nearly a year as part of the union’s collective bargaining agreement.School Committee members say that they agree with Coppola that it is not an appropriate time to hand out additional raises, but point out that the negotiations with Durgin, Bakas and Hegan have been on the table for more than a year, well before the fiscal 2009 budget was on the table.”These negotiations have been going on for over a year. Donna has a valid point, but this is something I feel we should have approved a year ago,” said Committee member John Ford, who said he has not made up his mind on whether to vote for the raises. “The only reason I would consider this raise based on the arguments is that it is something that should have been approved last year. If it were somebody new coming to us it wouldn’t get any consideration from any of us whatsoever.”Vice Chairman Patricia Capano said she has not seen Coppola’s proposal, but agrees that it is an inappropriate time to be giving out pay raises. On the other hand, she said she would not vote against having the executive session because she would rather sit in and hear for herself what is happening with the negotiations.”We cannot afford to increase stipends if we are laying off 90 teachers. That does not equate a pay increase,” she said. “But I would not blind myself like that, even if I support the motion, I want to go in to the executive session to hear both sides.”Coppola did not indicate that she was attempting to block the executive session, only that she wanted to make sure that employees knew that additional raises were not an option at this time.Regarding the proposed pay increase, Ford and Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr., who is also the School Committee chairman, said the administrators union came to the School Department over a year ago with a laundry list of demands under the collective bargaining agreement. After months o