The contract negotiations between the Perth Amboy Board of Education and the teachers union hit a roadblock on Tuesday.
Perth Amboy High School PERTH AMBOY -- Contract negotiations between the Perth Amboy Board of Education and the district's union is no closer to resolution as the BOE declared an impasse on Tuesday, "rejecting a union proposal" over health insurance costs, according to a statement from the Perth Amboy Federation-AFT.
The Perth Amboy Federation-AFT, which represents district teachers and employees, said the impasse was discouraging.
"All we want is a fair contract for hardworking Perth Amboy educators who work with students in the schools every day," said Patricia Paradiso, union president and a third-grade teacher, in the statement.
Paradiso said she believed it was hypocritical that school Superintendent David A. Roman was paying only 1.5 percent of his $200,000 salary for coverage "while a teacher making a third of that pays significantly more," Paradiso said.
"The union wants to see a decrease in health insurance costs for everyone," she added.
Samuel Lebreault, president Perth Amboy Board of Education, said in a statement that the board "has worked in good faith to come to an agreement" but added that he believed comparing the salary and benefits of the superintendent to the members of the collective bargaining unit was "not logical."
"The superintendent of schools has a completely different set of job responsibilities and duties than any member of the union," Lebreault said, "his employment is not governed by the same laws that govern the union members, and it is unrealistic to demand that the benefits and salary of the chief school administrator, the superintendent of schools, be the same for every employee."
He added, "the amount of contributions being demanded by the AFT is not tenable, and no other union in the State of New Jersey has received what they are demanding."
In its statement, the union said the district has displayed that it has the money by recently creating "four new top-level administrative positions allocating more than $500,000 in salaries for personnel who will never see the inside of a classroom."
Paradiso condemned the impasse and "called for a return to the bargaining table."
The union hasn't been afraid to display its outrage, organizing pickets and protests outside of schools.
Nat T. Bender, a spokesman for the union, said he believes public support is on their side.
"We have significant community support," he told NJ Advance Media in a telephone interview.
He said the health care costs is "the sticking point."
"It's not right," he said.
Spencer Kent may be reached at skent@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerMKent. Find the Find NJ.com on Facebook.