Ringgold Education Association leaders hold community meeting
NEW EAGLE – Nearly 150 parents, teachers, students and district residents attended a town hall meeting held Thursday at New Eagle Volunteer Fire Department Social Hall by striking Ringgold teachers to discuss why they walked off the job Oct. 18, answer questions and address concerns from the public.
Maria Degnan, Ringgold Education Association president, addressed teacher salaries and health care, the chief stumbling blocks in negotiations.
According to Degnan, Ringgold teachers get paid the lowest among 105 schools in the Pittsburgh region.
Degnan said the disparity among educators’ salaries in the area result in good teachers leaving Ringgold School District for higher-paying jobs in neighboring school districts.
A teacher at step 11 in Ringgold makes $600 less than they did 13 years ago, according to a fact sheet distributed by the REA at the meeting.
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
A crowd of residents, parent, students and teachers attended a town hall meeting held by the Ringgold Education Association Thursday.
The union rejected a fact-finder’s recommendation that would have taken their salaries from between $36,000 and $78,508 a year last term to $41,439 and $83,947.
Degnan said teachers have been bargaining in good faith since July 2016, without coming close to an agreement.
“We feel like they haven’t given us a fair salary offer yet,” said Degnan.
Degnan also said the union’s offer to move to the Allegheny Health Care Consortium from the Intermediate Unit 1 Health Care Consortium will save the district $650,000 over the next five years, over and above administrative costs to move.
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
A crowd of residents, parent, students and teachers attended a town hall meeting held by the Ringgold Education Association Thursday.
Dengan encouraged those in attendance to contact school board members before the next round of negotiations Monday to ask them to work to reach a settlement.
“Please call your school board members and tell them to get a deal, or at least get a framework where we can get the kids back in school on Tuesday, because I would love to be back in school on Tuesday and I think all the teachers here agree with me,” said Degnan.
The school district released a publication on its website countering the union’s contentions, claiming nine of 16 school districts in an IU 1 survey reported the same or lower starting salary as Ringgold. The publication also said the school board believes its newest salary proposal is reasonable.
Sabrina Zitzelberger of Finleyville attended the meeting with her son, Alex, a seventh-grader at Ringgold Middle School.
“I’m on team teachers,” said Zitzelberger. “(Alex’s) teachers have always been supportive and great. It really concerns me that they’re the lowest-paid teachers in the region. I don’t know how you keep quality teachers if you don’t pay them a competitive salary. I’m ready for them to get back to school, but I’m willing to make the sacrifice.”
The state Department of Education has directed teachers to return to work Nov. 21 so the district’s nearly 3,000 students can receive 180 instructional days by mid-June.