The Scranton School District presented teachers with a “brazen” offer this week that freezes pay, “attacks” class size limits and eliminates the preschool program and its teachers, according to the union.
The two sides met Wednesday, the first time since the district entered financial recovery in January. Teachers have worked under an expired contract since 2017, and the recovery plan, which the school board approved in August, includes no guaranteed salary increases for five years. The 2020 proposed budget approved by the board also included no money for raises.
“The morale is shot in the district,” said Rosemary Boland, president of the Scranton Federation of Teachers. “I don’t think the people in Scranton, the parents especially, would at all appreciate what was given to us.”
Wednesday’s offer included changes to class size limits and health care, requiring secondary teachers to teach six periods instead of five, changes to salary step movement and ending compensation for covering other classes during planning periods. The recovery plan calls for the district to seek an outside agency to take over the preschool program, an issue discussed on Wednesday, according to the union.
Teachers have not had a raise since the 2016-17 school year, which has led to some teachers leaving the district, employees have said. For the last three years, a first-year teacher has started at $38,377 a year, lower than other districts in the area. Many teachers also are waiting for a large salary increase that comes in their 16th year of teaching in the district. For example, teachers with master’s degrees go from making $59,148 to $81,226 from their 15th to 16th step. Since the contract is expired, teachers have not moved any steps on the salary scale. By the end of this school year — the third year working under the expired contract — some teachers waiting to move to the 16th step will have lost more than $60,000. Union leaders have vowed to fight for retroactive pay.
In 2017, teachers gave union leadership the ability to call a strike if necessary — an option that is not off the table, Boland said Thursday.
Boland questioned how the district could find money for administrators last week, when the board removed the “acting” title from members of the new administrative team. The employees received a combined annual raise of $72,000. By continuing to keep some administrative positions vacant, the district will still save about $540,000 per year, according to the district.
The two sides plan to meet twice again this month, Boland said. The district did not provide an offer for paraprofessionals, which are also represented by the union.
The district’s negotiating team includes Superintendent Melissa McTiernan, Business Manager Patrick Laffey, Chief Human Resource Officer John Castrovinci and Attorney Matthew Carmody from the firm Joyce, Carmody and Moran. Chief Recovery Officer Candis Finan, Ed.D., was also in the room, Boland said.
The district offered no details on the offer today.
“We met yesterday (Wednesday) with SFT representatives,” McTiernan said. “Contract negotiations are ongoing.”
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