The Amityville School Board continues to discuss, evaluate and consider utilizing a state and federal grant of hundreds of thousands of dollars for tutorial and classroom enhancement services to be provided by teachers from outside of the district. It’s appalling that opposition from the Amityville Teachers Association (ATA) is what appears to be standing in the way of bringing this program to Amityville students. It’s time the teachers’ union gets out of the way, and the board acts.

The program has been in place over the past two years and was part of an entire plan that has resulted in the unprecedented educational advancement of students in Amityville. Yet, this school board majority continues to pick at the corners of a successful educational template, which can only fracture and weaken its foundation.

The teachers union has made several public displays of its distaste for the program, which utilizes the services of educators outside of the district and thus, outside of the local bargaining unit. And, they have objected to the $100 per hour that these specialized teachers are paid.

Unions in general oppose hiring professionals who are not under the direct protection and control of their unit. The ATA’s concern is understandable, to a point. These specialized teachers are not, after all "scabs" being brought into the district, they are certified teachers who are retired and spend a limited amount of time in the district picking up and expanding on what the regular classroom teacher does. Many of the district’s teachers applaud the program, while their union seems to be doing everything within its power to dismantle it.

These teachers are paid $100 an hour because, frankly, that is the going rate for these services. Remember these individuals travel to and from the district, spend an hour or two teaching and then leave. Their services are specialized and limited and they receive no health or other benefits.

The ATA says the district should use the money to hire more full-time teachers. That’s not the purpose nor the focus of the grant, which is to supplement the work of classroom teachers, not expand on their numbers. And, hiring full-time teachers represents a long-term employment commitment neither the grant nor the district is able to provide at this time. Union leaders and board members know, or should know that, and their stubborn refusal to accept that places this grant at risk.

This board’s majority has dawdled and discussed many issues in the past to the point where it has lost opportunities to act in a timely manner. That has resulted in the need, for example, for the district to hire interim business managers, and while these individuals have been very well qualified and committed, the district has been left without the continuity it needed, particularly during the recent budget process.

This board shouldn’t make that mistake again. It’s time that it set aside the political pressures being placed upon it by the ATA. Then as whole or at least as a responsible coalition board members should come together to bring the benefits of this grant to the students of Amityville.