Nidya Degliomini said last week that she is approaching her first negotiations with the Herricks Board of Education as president of the Herricks Teachers Association with a clear understanding of the school district’s financial condition.
“We’re quite aware of what’s going on. We get it. We have as much vested in it as the parents,” said Degliomini, who has been teaching at the Denton Avenue School for 25 years.
Degliomini, who recently was named president of the association after served as executive vice president for the past year, said she does not believe the failure of the board and the association to renegotiate the existing contract the past two years will impact talks on an agreement beginning in the 2014-15 school year.
Both sides, she said, “headed in the same direction.”
The Herricks board unsuccessfully attempted to renegotiate the existing teachers contract as it struggled to stay within the state-mandated tax cap at a time of rising health-care and pension costs in each of the past two years
After the talks broke down, the board approved a reduction in 49 teaching positions with another 14 scheduled for the 2013-14 school year.
“It was difficult seeing so many teachers leave two years ago. That was heart-breaking,” Degliomini said.
Outgoing teachers association head Jane Morales said the teachers had offered a reduction of 3 percent in negotiated salary increases over the final two years of the existing contract that would have saved the district $2.8 million with individual teachers giving back $8,000 to $10,000 a piece. In turn, Morales said, the teachers sought a two-year contract extension with 1 percent increases in the 2014-15 and 2015-16 school years.
School board President Christine Turner said the board made three counter offers to the teachers that included a “hard freeze” on salaries for the 2012-13 or the 2013-14 school year or both in exchange for a two-year contract extension.
But, Turner said, Morales failed to respond to the board’s counteroffers.
Despite their inability to renegotiate the existing contract in the past two years, Degliomini said the relationship between the school board and the teachers is a good one and will “absolutely not” be affected by the failure of the two sides to reach a compromise on amending the current contract.
Degliomini was part of the teachers’ Professional Negotiating Committee that negotiated the last contract. She became executive vice president of the teachers association last fall after serving for nearly two years as vice president of the elementary school teachers.
She said she accepted election as president of the teachers association at the urging of her peers.
“I knew it was the right thing to do because I love working with the members. I wanted to work transparently with the administration and the board of education,” Degliomini said. “My goal is to maximize the educational opportunities of the students in our schools.”
A resident of Old Westbury, she started teaching second grade for several years at the Denton Avenue School in 1988, subsequently teaching fourth grade. She started her career immediately after earning her bachelors degree in elementary education at Adelphi University, teaching for eight years in the Elmont School District. She earned her masters degree in special education while working in Elmont.
She said she was aware of Herricks’ reputation for excellence, but experiencing the difference between Elmont and Herricks was a revelation.
“I’ve loved coming here because I could really start teaching. I wasn’t being a cop anymore,” Degliomini said. “The support of the parents is incredible and the administration let’s you try different things.”
She said she believes Herricks teachers are among the most qualified and best trained on Long Island. And she said she has aimed to maintain that standard as a member of the interview committee helping to select the two language immersion teachers the district will be hiring for the fall semester at Denton Avenue.
“Teaching to me is a passion. It’s not a job,” she said.
Degliomini said Herricks teachers typically go beyond the daily school schedule, maintaining contact with their students’ parents on their own time. She said she takes great satisfaction from the e-mails she receives from Herricks High School graduates she had in elementary school.
Degliomini and her husband, Charles, have raised two children of their own, one in college and a 16-year-old attending The Wheatley School.
In her free time, she said she enjoys spending time with her family, traveling with her husband and reading.
