Posted on 06/17/2005 4:45:43 AM PDT by Born Conservative
WRIGHT TWP. – Crestwood School District officials said they consider a recent letter from the teachers union a “mass resignation” and plan to vote June 28 to hire replacement teachers for this fall if the contact isn’t settled.
Union President Joseph Chmiola Jr. sent a letter to the school district on Tuesday saying that without a new contract, “we will be unwilling to work the 2005-2006 school year.”
Negotiator John Holland of the Pennsylvania State Education Association said Thursday that the intent of the June 14 letter was to tell the school district that if there’s no new contract, the union will strike. He said no time frame for a strike has been decided.
“We were all in shock that they would write a letter like this,” said school board President Bill Jones. Jones said school district attorneys read the letter and determined it is a “mass resignation” of about 160 Crestwood Education Association members.
But Holland said the school district’s plan is illegal and that it can’t hire replacement workers.
“This board is about as petty as I’ve ever seen,” Holland said. “They’re ludicrous.”
Teachers staged a one-day strike in November. Act 88, the state law that limits the length of a strike, allows students to complete the state-mandated 180 days of instruction by June 30
The school district said in a written statement that unless a new contract agreement is reached, the board at its June 28 meeting will consider a motion to accept the mass resignation. If the resignations are accepted, they will become effective June 30.
“We’re going to accept it and we’re going to move on,” Jones said. The school district plans to advertise the vacancies immediately and begin interviewing replacement teachers to be hired before the school year’s start.
“If they choose to advertise for teachers, they’re going to do so at their own risk,” Holland said.
Chmiola wrote in the letter that he wanted “to stress the importance that the (teachers union) and (school district) reach an agreement prior to the start of the school year.” Union members are working under the terms of their old contract, which expired Aug. 31, 2002.
Holland said the contract issue is a serious matter, but the school district is more interested in “pandering to the public.”
The last contract negotiation session was June 8 when both sides said no progress was made. The next meeting is tentatively scheduled for July 6.
Board member and school district negotiator Gene Mancini Jr. said the school district must ensure that there are teachers in place for the school year’s start.
The biggest negotiation issue between the union and school district is health care. The school district wants teachers to contribute to health-care premiums, but the teachers are opposed.
The school district said that if the board accepts the resignations, teachers will be notified that they can purchase COBRA health insurance. The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act permits workers to buy health insurance under a group health plan.
Not to mention they will be hard pressed to fill them with all non union teachers.
Stupid is as stupid does.
Wilkes Barre isn't that far from here. I CANNOT find a Social Studies / History gig anywhere around here.
Might as well sign up for a hell of a commute!
You know, I had this happen in a SimCity 4 game.
This seems pretty clear to me. If the school board has no intention of giving in to union demands then they should be getting ready to replace the 160 teachers who have allowed the union to use them as pawns in their extortion/control racket!
Shades of the UAW...
Bust the union ping...
They could pay parents to homeschool their children and supply the materials or give them vouchers for private schools for less money than they are spending now. It is unreasonable for teachers not to pay in to their insurance plan when teachers everywhere else have had to do this for years. Ask GM what happens when you keep paying the whole freight on health insurance, and GM has much more money than a school district has.
That won't be a problem replacing all those teachers and they will work for far less money and benefits than the current crop. These increases are out of hand and more districts should fire all the teachers and hire a new batch.
If the Board does start hiring new teachers,
no one should be surprised to find how many
of the "resigning" teachers will be first in
line to apply! Happens all the time in
Education contracts.
You would have to drag me kicking and screaming to get me to quit teaching. If one can quit that easily over a minor issue, then one doesn't deserve to teach. They would be striking every day in my area because there's a lot of things here that we (teachers) don't have that many areas do, but we still keep plugging along and doing the best we can in spite of it.
As much as I dislike the education liberals' negative campaigns against education and blaming teachers for all the problems of society, I don't like teachers doing the same kinds of things, thus providing fodder for the ed libs' propaganda.
These teachers should focus on the positive as we all should.
They wont have to replace 160, I'll bet after they find replacements for a few of them, a bunch will be snifflin for their cushy jobs back!
The biggest negotiation issue between the union and school district is health care. The school district wants teachers to contribute to health-care premiums, but the teachers are opposed.
That's it???????!!!! Nowadays, we teachers have to accept that we will pay a little for medical at least. My brother quit teaching after one year because he had to pay a lot for not-so-good benefits. I am thankful just to have them, even though I've only used them on very rare occasions.
You would have to drag me kicking and screaming to get me to quit teaching. If one can quit that easily over a minor issue, then one doesn't deserve to teach. They would be striking every day in my area because there's a lot of things here that we (teachers) don't have that many areas do, but we still keep plugging along and doing the best we can in spite of it.
As much as I dislike the education liberals' negative campaigns against education and blaming teachers for all the problems of society, I don't like teachers doing the same kinds of things, thus providing fodder for the ed libs' propaganda.
These teachers should focus on the positive as we all should.
I could do it. These people are not as "special" as they believe themselves to be and there a lot of unemployed, degreed professionals who could be certified and in place with any truly serious attempt.
Don't kid yourself.
Love it! I have worked years at a time without a raise in the private sector in the past. Truth is they knew what they were making when they accepted the job.
In some places they are, in some places not. I haven't had a raise for quite a while, and I actually make LESS now than before.
Our school district publishes the salaries of all the teachers, just the base salary, not including benefits. You are hard pressed to find someone not making at least 70K for working 180 days a year. And that 180 is not all it's cracked up to be too, during the winter,t hey can show up for 2 hours and go home because of "the weather" and that will count as a full day.
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