Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Both sides call upon the other side to compromise at Monday's school board meeting.
West Chester School Board President Vince Murphy read a statement at Monday’s school board meeting calling upon the teachers union to negotiate and compromise as both sides continue to work towards a new contract. “It is high time that the West Chester Area School District be the next noteworthy example of a fiscally responsible contract achieved through compromise,” Murphy said. Murphy pointed to the recently agreed upon contact in the Tredyffrin-Easttown School District. The teachers and board there agreed to a two-year deal that calls for a $2,500 nonrecurring bonus for each bargaining unit member over the course of two years. “Does this sound familiar?” Murphy asked. “It should. It is the same compensation proposal which our school …
Friday, October 12, 2012
Members of the West Chester School Board try to explain the fiscal issues surrounding the teacher contract negotiations.
The following is a press release from the West Chester Area School District. As members of the West Chester Area School Board negotiating team, we are committed to an agreement which is affordable and allows our district to maintain its excellent programs. Like every other district in Pennsylvania, we have seen tax and other revenue fall; at the same time, expenses - especially pension costs - have increased. Unlike many Pennsylvania school districts, this Board has taken steps to address our fiscal situation. When Mr. Carpenter was appointed chair of the district's Property & Finance committee in 2010, the financial projections at that time predicted expenses of $217 million for 2012-13, and called for tax increases far beyond the Act 1 …
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Members of the West Chester Education Association gathered outside the district's administration office to rally support for a new contract.
The West Chester Education Association held a rally in front of the district’s administration building before Monday night’s school board meeting. “We didn’t get in this for the money,” said teachers’ association president Deb Fell in front of a crowd of district teachers. “All we want is a fair wage.” The education association is in negotiations with the school board for a new teachers’ contract. The teachers have been working without a contract since June 30, and last year, the union agreed to freeze its wages saving the district $2.6 million. “When we submitted our first proposal, the union and the board were separated by $25 million,” Fell said. “We’ve moved back $19 million since then. The board still refuses to budge. It’s time …
Monday, September 24, 2012
The West Chester Area School Board will vote on giving staff a one-time nonrecurring bonus at about 1.7 percent of salary.
The West Chester Area School Board will vote Monday on whether or not to give one-time nonrecurring bonuses to both the administration and the teachers. The school board agenda lists these bonus as the equivalent of a 1.7 percent salray raise. The agenda also says that the teachers' bonus is a "non-bargaining" bonus as well as being one-time and nonrecurring. The complete school board agenda for the West Chester Area School Board's monthly meeting is attached to this story as a PDF in the picture box above.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
The newest proposal from the school board provides a $2,500 raise over the two years of the contract.
- GOVERNMENT
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Thursday, September 13, 2012
The following is a press release from the West Chester Area School Board. Hoping to overcome the gridlock that salary talks have yielded during the last nine months of contract negotiations, the West Chester Area School Board Negotiating Team has introduced a revised proposal which provides each teacher with a $2500 increase in pay over a two-year period. The new plan was presented to the West Chester Area Education Association (WCAEA) this evening during a 2-hour bargaining session. The newest salary proposal breaks down as follows: Teachers who receive an “unsatisfactory” rating in any one year will receive no compensation increase. The School Board’s newest plan actually provides more equitable pay increases that the Union’s current …
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
A new statement from the West Chester School Board says $6.2 million divides the two sides.
The following is a press release from the West Chester Area School Board. Optimism turned to disappointment this week when the West Chester Area School Board Negotiating Team evaluated the newest proposal submitted by the West Chester Area Education Association and saw that it represented a $6.2 million gap between what the District and the union were seeking in the next contract. The union’s newest two-year proposal – the first formal proposal it has submitted since March – includes the following: Salary Increases Benefit Changes Additionally, the proposal calls for the District to seek no penalties against the Union if they decide to go out on strike. According to District calculations, the union’s newest proposal will cost the …
Friday, August 31, 2012
The West Chester Area Education Association says its disappointed by a lack of progress in negotiation talks.
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Friday, August 31, 2012
The following is a press release from the West Chester Area Education Association. The West Chester Area Education Association (WCAEA) said today that a deal had not been reached with the West Chester Area School District regarding a new contract. At the latest negotiation session held Wednesday, Aug. 29 between members of the WCAEA negotiation team and the school district, the teachers’ union submitted a two-year proposal but it was rejected by the school district. “We are disappointed that there has been no movement on the part of the school district during the negotiation process,” WCAEA President Debbie Fell said. “We made a number of adjustments to the contract regarding tuition reimbursement, healthcare and changes in salary …
Thursday, August 30, 2012
West Chester School Board President Vince Murphy says that both sides still remain at odds while negotiating the new teachers' contract.
The following is a statement released by West Chester School Board President Vince Murphy. On Wednesday, Aug. 29, the West Chester Area School Board Negotiating Committee met with the West Chester Area Education Association (WCAEA) for a two-hour negotiation session. The union presented the school board with an updated proposal during that meeting. Our business office is in the process of calculating the full cost of the union's two-year proposal. The latest offer from the union leadership does not come close to meeting the board's financial objectives and would result in tax increases well above the Act 1 Index. We are still far apart on salary, benefits and work rules. The board offered a fair and reasonable proposal. Our proposal was …
Friday, August 10, 2012
The West Chester Area Education Association released a statement that says contract negotiations will continue on August 16.
- GOVERNMENT
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Friday, August 10, 2012
The following is a press release from the West Chester Area Education Association. The West Chester Area Education Association (WCAEA) met today with representatives of the West Chester Area School District regarding contract negotiations. While no deal has been finalized, WCAEA President Debbie Fell said the teacher’s union and the school district have agreed to continue talks and have scheduled the next negotiation session for Thursday, August 16. “We agreed to continue to meet in order to come to a fair and equitable resolution for everyone involved,” Fell said. “The WCAEA is dedicated to providing an excellent education for our children, and we are willing to meet as often as needed so we may come to an agreement before the new school …
Thursday, August 2, 2012
A look at how the information stacks up when it comes to teachers' salaries in the West Chester Area School District.
There's a lot of information floating around out there about the teachers' contract negotiations. Here's a breakdown of the salary information as I understand it. Number of Teachers Even the number of teachers that work in the district is up for debate. The school board uses something called fulltime equivalents. Some teachers in the district are not fulltime. They work at a percentage of full-time, for example 40 percent or sixty percent. If you add that teacher working at 40 percent with another teacher working at 60 percent you get the equivalent of one fulltime teacher. The school board uses the fulltime equivalent number of 917 in its negotiating materials. The union on the other hand uses 943 as its number because that is the …
edufan
12:16 pm on Thursday, November 22, 2012
Thank you, WCASD officials for voting to stay with ten elementary schools. more ›