Free Republic

The school board’s unilateral imposition of its own contract is a lockout, attorney says. “We’re not fooling around any more. I’ve had it. I think all board members have had it.” Bill Jones School board president WRIGHT TWP. – The Crestwood teachers union will not show up for work Monday because it considers the board’s attempt to impose a contract unilaterally as a “lockout,” according to attorney John Audi of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, the parent organization of the local teachers union. School board President Bill Jones said the announcement was a surprise, but that “school is going to...

PLAINS TWP. (PA) – Crestwood teachers filed a strike notice Thursday night and said the district offered them a “trash” proposal that insists they pay a portion of health-care premiums. Teachers will go on strike after next week if a settlement is not reached by Sept. 23 in the three-year contract dispute. No other negotiation sessions are planned before then. Board member Gene Mancini Jr. said the district will not budge in requiring teachers to pay a portion of health care premiums in any new contract. “First and foremost, the public demands it,” he said. “The public pays for it.”...

Without public comment or debate the Crestwood School Board unanimously voted for a motion that will keep its teaching staff. About 100 residents and teachers crammed into the district's sweltering high school library for a vote that stopped the board from scrambling to fill 183 teaching positions by August. "It was a pretty smooth meeting," said Bill Jones, board president. "I think both sides were happy." A June 14 letter from the union started the vote. The letter saying union members would be "unwilling to work" the new school year without a new contract. The board responded, calling the letter...

An education historian takes a look at a dispute in a Luzerne County school district. “The consequences of the unions taking a really strong ‘we’re not budging’ attitude led to this series of very, very Draconian laws.” Jeffrey Mirel Professor of education studies and history at the University of Michigan Crestwood School Board in Pennsylvania may have avoided losing all its teachers with a single vote, but a different Crestwood, in Michigan, wasn’t so lucky. And an education historian warned that what happened in the Wolverine state could still happen here. It was, he said, a disaster for both sides....

Board to vote on whether to accept rescinded letter today, solicitor says Crestwood teacher negotiations Board to vote on whether to accept rescinded letter today, solicitor says Union president says letter was misconstrued to imply mass resignation. WRIGHT TWP. (PA) – The president of the Crestwood Education Association hand delivered a written statement to Superintendent Richard Duffy’s home late Monday night rescinding a June 14 letter in which he said teachers would be “unwilling to work” if a new contract isn’t inked prior to the start of the 2005-2006 school year. The most recent letter, like the first, was penned...

“I want to make it perfectly clear that no member of the Crestwood Education Association has resigned from their position.” John Holland Pennsylvania State Education Association Northeast Region representative WRIGHT TWP. – A teachers union official has penned a letter denying that any Crestwood teachers have resigned, but the school board president and solicitor aren’t buying it, sticking to their argument that an earlier letter signaled a mass resignation in the midst of bitter contract dispute. Pennsylvania State Education Association Northeast Region Representative John Holland sent a letter Friday to school board Solicitor Jack Dean saying “I want to make...

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...

The union representative is angry about publication of salary, reimbursements and sick days amid contract talks. WRIGHT TWP. - Every Crestwood teacher's salary, tuition reimbursements and related pay hikes, plus accrued sick days will soon debut on the school district's Web site. School board member Gene Mancini Jr. said it's a way to inform the public as contract negotiations continue, but union representative John Holland called the move "offensive and irresponsible." "It's the public's right to know," said Mancini, who serves on the contract negotiation team. He said the board held a public session in November and next week's planned...