Pennsbury: Tentative agreement would extend contract

From the BCCT.

Tentative agreement would extend contract
In Neshaminy, where they’re also negotiating, teachers have worked under terms of an expired contract for several months, officials said.
By MANASEE WAGH and RACHEL CANELLI

One more year?

The Pennsbury Education Association and the Pennsbury school board have reached a tentative agreement to forgo raises and extend the current contract, pay scale and benefit package for one year, officials said Monday.

Both the board members and the more than 800 Pennsbury teacher union members, though, still have to review and ratify the deal, administrators said.

If approved, the contract would take effect when the current agreement expires on June 30. But most teachers would not receive an increase in this time of recession, said board President Gregory Lucidi. Those who are eligible for longevity and educational attainment increases would still receive them, he said.

The newspaper was unsuccessful Monday in reaching union President George Miller for comment.

After one year, the board and the union would return to bargaining for a new, long-term contract, according to district officials.

The district’s previous contract talks in 2005 resulted in a 21-day teacher strike over a salary and benefits dispute. The final solution was a 4-year deal that provided 2.25 to 2.45 percent salary increases and required educators to kick in between 7 and 10 percent toward health care contributions, administrators said.

Before state law required that Pennsbury begin bargaining this month, the school board surveyed the public’s opinion on a contract, officials said.

Pennsbury’s starting salaries are roughly $41,176 and top out at about $98,222. At $77,524, Pennsbury’s average teacher salary ranks within the top 10 of 727 school districts in the state, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

Representing Pennsbury’s school board in the talks is Jeffrey Sultanik, a solicitor involved in Souderton’s tense contract negotiations that are in arbitration, administrators said.

In September, teachers in that district went on strike for 15 days partly because their starting salaries are lower than other Montgomery County school districts. But the school board there is concerned because many of its teachers are in the top tiers of the salary schedule, officials said.

Pennsbury and Bristol Township are the only two Lower Bucks public school districts out of eight whose contracts are due to expire in June. Negotiations on a new pact in Bristol Township got under way last week during a preliminary meeting, district spokeswoman Eileen Kelliher said.

Meanwhile, bargaining is scheduled to continue Wednesday in the Neshaminy School District. Educators there have already worked under their expired deal since June, administrators said.

The Neshaminy school board and the Neshaminy Federation of Teachers are still waiting to review health insurance information from Independence Blue Cross, officials said.

The board there wants teachers to start contributing a percentage toward their insurance premiums, while the teachers have so far proposed no change to the current package. Talks are being held with state-appointed mediator Jill Leeds-Rivera, administrators said.