Tensions Linger Months after Teacher Walkout

Nearly three months after 300 Lindenhurst teachers walked out of a school board meeting and with their contract set to expire on June 30, educators continue to face an uneasy public. 

“The walkout was very disappointing, and when word of it got out, it spread like wildfire in the community,” , president of the Daniel Street Civic Association, told Lindenhurst Patch Thursday.

The during what was expected to be a routine annual Board of Education budget workshop focusing on school district personnel costs.

“It’s very disappointing because it’s the same people who we entrust our children to, and they acted like they were taking their toys and going home,” Lisi said of the walkout, which began after the teachers union, , took issue with statements from Board of Education President Ed Murphy, Jr.

“That’s the wrong message to send," Lisi added. "The right one is that despite differences we’re going to stay and talk.”

The walkout was supposed to unify support for teachers and against what TAL thought was a breach of contract negotiations when Murphy announced that if the union would take a salary freeze with no step or lane increments in a new contract, then it would provide some tax relief to the working-class community hit hard by the economy while preserving program and jobs.

Instead, it sparked months of negative sentiment toward teachers – a sentiment that continues today even after school district residents in May, which included a 6.89 percent hike in the school tax levy.

The BOE had its March 31 adoption of the budget until in from the teachers.

That relief still hasn’t materialized despite .

Long-time resident and retired Lindenhurst teacher Sy Razler didn’t defend the walkout, but explained the teachers’ frustration.

“They weren’t happy with what the board did,” Razler told Patch June 16. “And they’re not happy taking a beating every time. No one complained years ago when we were one of the lowest-paying districts.

"They complain now when the economy is bad because they feel teachers are getting ahead of them, but they’re getting what they’re worth.”

Resident also thought the teachers shouldn’t have walked out of the meeting, but that Murphy shouldn’t “have stated points of the Board’s proposal, since negotiations are supposed to be in private. And honoring that protocol, [TAL President Rose] Russo was not baited into letting the community know what the teachers have offered in return.”

Russo could not be reached for comment on Thursday.

However, Razler’s and ’s views are in the minority. The majority seemed to echo Lisi’s view throughout and following the budget season.

“The teachers should leave their salaries where they are. They should be happy to have jobs,” said resident Florence Nerich on April 13, the night the t. “There are a lot of people out work…I’m on Social Security and for the third year there’s no raise.”

At a Daniel Street Civic Association meeting ahead of the May 17 budget vote, resident Gus Hansmann, said, “Teachers work 182 days. The rest of us, about 240 – if you figure 50 weeks is 250, minus vacation or sick days, working with round numbers. They work three-quarters of what we do."

Lisi said that he and many still find it “disappointing” the BOE and TAL haven’t reached an agreement – even though five of six units have contracts that have expired or will expire at the end of June, and the BOE is in talks with each of them.