During the Feb. 10 Human Resources Committee meeting the proposed contract with Substitute Teacher Services(STS) was revisited by the BASD board after being tabled at a previous meeting.

Human Resources Director Russell Giordano addressed concerns expressed by the board during a meeting at which they were to vote on approving the contract with STS.

Giordano informed the board that he has sent a letter in January notifying substitute teachers in the district of the intent to present the STS proposal to the board. He also said that he and his assistant, Jane Fisher, had reached out to school districts the same size as BASD who use STS about their experience with the company.

"What we attempted to do was fill in the gaps you indicated in the previous meeting. Put a Q and A in (the packet given to board members) and posted to web on Friday so the substitutes should have it," said Giordano. He also said he beefed up the executive summery with more detail and added cost avoidance to it.

Concern about substitutes having to redo their clearances if the board chooses to enter a contract with STS prompted a lengthy discussion among board members and Giordano.

"One of the things I'm concerned with is teachers have to redo their clearances. Is that a state thing?" asked Board President Michael Facinetto.

Giordano said that clearances are regulated by the state. If clearances are more than a year old, the teacher would only have to redo them once to work wherever STS has a job for them, whether it be in the BASD or another local district.

In order to join STS, substitutes would have to pay out of pocket to redo their clearances if they are more than a year old.

Facinetto then proposed possibly negotiating with STS for STS to pay to cover the cost of teachers redoing their clearances the first time.

Superintendent Joseph Roy said, "There is going to be times going forward with collective bargaining that will cost the employee. Sometimes changes cost the employee in some way. I would be cautious in setting a trend that way".

The board voted 8-1 with director Basilio Bonilla voting against taking the possible contract with STS off the table and put it on the agenda for a vote at the next meeting Feb. 24 at East Hills MS.

" We can't get into the habit of out sourcing everything" Bonilla said. "What's next, teachers?"