Principals Take To Air to Push For New Pact

Principals Take To Air to Push For New Pact

By HOWARD MEGDAL

The Council of School Supervisors and Administrators, which represents Principals, Assistant Principals and other supervisors, is running television and newspaper ads criticizing the Department of Education regarding the nearly three years the union has worked under an expired contract.

JILL LEVY: Demanding respect. CSA is currently in mediation with DOE after filing for impasse in March. If a contract is not reached with the help of the mediator, the Public Employment Relations Board will appoint an arbitration panel that will issue a non-binding ruling based on a fact-finding procedure.

Klein 'Unconscionable'

"At the end of this month we enter the fourth year without a contract for the Principals, Assistant Principals, Supervisors and Administrators of New York City schools," said CSA President Jill S. Levy. "It is unconscionable that the Chancellor of this school system, who pays so much lip service to his school leaders, will not pay them the salaries they deserve."

A spokeswoman for Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein declined to comment on either the ads or Ms. Levy's statement.

In the television spot, several Principals detail the ways they have helped their schools, with Ms. Levy narrating. The CSA leader then says directly into the camera, "In the business world, leaders are rewarded for their success. Three years of hard work and still no contract? Disrespectful."

Two of the newspaper ads spotlight individual Principals, while the third includes a picture of a March demonstration in front of City Hall. All three address Mayor Bloomberg directly.

"Mayor Bloomberg, step up to the plate!" exhorts one ad. Both the television and newspaper buys run through June 30, the three-year anniversary of the expiration of the CSA's last contract.