Tentative contract for N.J. teachers

MIDDLETOWN, N.J. - Nearly two months after a judge jailed 228 teachers for refusing to end a strike, the teachers union and school district have reached a tentative contract agreement. <br> <br> The school board voted Friday night to accept proposals by mediator Ronald J. Riccio to increase teachers&#39; wages and the amount teachers pay toward medical benefits. <br> <br> The union&#39;s 1,000 members have not yet ratified the deal, but they earlier agreed to accept whatever recommendations Riccio made, union attorney Sanford Oxfeld said. Their previous contract expired June 30. <br> <br> Riccio, a former dean of the law school at Seton Hall University, was appointed in early December to mediate the contract dispute after a seven-day strike over the contract led to the jailing of 228 teachers who defied a judge&#39;s back-to-work order. <br> <br> In his report, Riccio recommended pay increases of 4 percent to 4.6 percent over the four-year contract and suggested a compromise on benefits. <br> <br> He also criticized both sides for what he called a ``confrontational culture&#39;&#39; that undermined contract talks and trickled down, infecting students and parents. <br> <br> ``As far as I&#39;m concerned, it&#39;s a true compromise, which is what we really needed,&#39;&#39; said Linda Ensor, and English teacher. ``I think the teachers are going to be relieved that there is closure in sight.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> School board lawyer Malachi J. Kenney said the union also must agree to drop lawsuits filed after the strike to add members to its bargaining unit and to prevent the board from docking teachers&#39; pay for the strike. <br> <br> The strike in the upscale community began Nov. 29 when more than 700 teachers walked off the job. It resulted in the nation&#39;s biggest mass teacher lockup since 1978, when 265 were jailed for 18 days in Bridgeport, Conn.

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