Resident urges board to settle teacher contract as board stresses financial constraints

A Long Island resident and former district volunteer, Matthew Lombardi, urged the Middle Country Central School District Board of Education to move toward a settled contract with the teacher union, recounting his childhood experience in the district and crediting district teachers with his academic success.

"I know everybody on this board wants these teachers to get a contract," Lombardi said, noting his mother had served on the school board and that teachers had helped him overcome dyslexia.

At the meeting the presiding chair summarized public input from March 11 and described ongoing negotiation priorities. The chair told the board that the district seeks a "collective bargaining agreement that can be sustained," and said Middle Country "cannot afford to continue 100% of the funding of family health care in retirement for MCTA members," a benefit the chair said only a few Long Island districts still offer.

The chair characterized the district’s approach as seeking competitive salaries and sustainable benefits, and said the district will use a mediator to review comparable districts’ contracts and the district’s financial standing to guide settlement talks. No formal action or vote on a contract was taken at the meeting.

The Board’s public-input procedures were read aloud in advance of the comment period by the district clerk; the clerk reminded speakers that each would have three minutes and that the board does not respond to public input during the meeting, though follow‑up may be provided afterward.

The meeting did not record a decision or vote on the contract; board members asked for continued respectful negotiations and an external mediator to assist in talks.