No resolution after four-hour meeting between PT, union
In what was characterized as an informal and routine meeting, officials from Peters Township School District and Peters Township Federation of Teachers Local 3421 met Monday for more than four hours in an attempt to bring about a resolution to its contract impasse, which is about to enter its eighth month.
Both sides have said they’re close on agreement. But Monday’s meeting at the district’s administration office on East McMurray Road appeared not to have resolved the differences between the two parties. The biggest issues are health care costs and salaries. The average teacher’s salary in Peters is in excess of $70,000 a year, the district said.
Timothy Tietze, a Chester County attorney who is serving as the neutral arbitrator in the ongoing contract dispute, said earlier this month he was willing to let the two sides meet in an attempt to resolve their differences before taking any action.
Since nothing has been resolved as of yet, Tietze is expected to issue a ruling based on findings from both sides. The matter will go before the district and the district’s 285 teachers who have been working without a contract since Aug. 31, the first day of school.
The teachers were on strike for three weeks last fall and returned to work the day after Thanksgiving. If a second work stoppage should occur, it will be shorter than the fall strike. The district, according to state law, must complete 180 days of instruction by June 30. The last day of school for the district is June 23.
In its regular board meeting Monday night, the board approved the retirements of Susan Bailey, a reading specialist at Bower Hill Elementary School, effective Sept. 17, 2016; Alyson Boyer, gifted teacher, McMurray Elementary, effective at the end of the current school year; Sandra Gans, German, middle school and McMurray Elementary, effective at the end of the current school year; Nancy McKenna, fifth grade, McMurray Elementary effective at the end of the current school year; Debra Miller, fifth grade, McMurray Elementary, effective Oct. 5, 2016; Patricia Ryan, nurse, McMurray Elementary, effective at the end of the current school year, and Sue Tillack, fifth grade, McMurray Elementary, effective July 20, 2016.
The board also approved the first reading of a policy that will provide for the training of its nurses and other appropriate district personnel in the proper administration of nasal Naloxone, better known as Narcan. The drug is used to treat heroin overdoses.