Teacher Union Claims Board Misleading Public

The West Chester Area Education Association released a statement on its Web site saying that the numbers released by the school board last week are not reflective of the union’s current position in the ongoing contract negotiations.

“We are perplexed as to why the Board chose to release the information at this time.  What the Board released was our initial proposal,” the statement said. “They have not released any information which has been discussed since the initial proposals were exchanged.  Therefore, their information is not reflective of the current position of the WCAEA.”

According to the statement, the school board has had the information they released last week since February.

“Why did the Board wait until now to release this information?”  The statement asks.  “Our only assumption is that the Board is trying to mislead the public.”

Last week, the school board released its set of proposals that included a close to four percent raise over the first two years of the contract and a $1,500 bonus in the third year.

The board also asked that the raises and the bonus be tied to the financial health of the district as well as teacher performance.

The district also released a summary of the teachers’ union proposal last week.  In that summary the board said that the teachers asked for an 18 percent raise over the three years of the contract.

At Monday’s school board meeting, teacher union president Debbie Fell said that the teachers hadn’t asked for a specific percentage pay raise, but instead asked for an incremental raise as well as a cost of living raise.

Fell also said at Monday’s meeting that the union is still interested in continuing negotiations “in good faith,” and that she hopes both sides can come to a fair and equitable agreement.”

“The WCAEA shares in these goals [with the board] and has already taken steps to cut costs for the past three years, including a pay freeze for the current 2011-2012 school year,” the union said in a statement.

The statement continues, “Over the years, the WCAEA has been a partner with the district helping to save money and resources. In the last three years alone, we have helped to save the district more than $10 million dollars.”