School District lawyers argue against seniority in counselor rehires
Requiring the Philadelphia School District to restore its laid-off counselors based on seniority would constitute "a tragedy" for the city's schoolchildren, lawyers said in court Tuesday.
Requiring the Philadelphia School District to restore its laid-off counselors based on seniority would constitute "a tragedy" for the city's schoolchildren, lawyers said in court Tuesday.
Craig D. Mills, arguing for the district, said the system was under no obligation to recall laid-off counselors in seniority order after it let them go in the severe budget crunch of 2013.
Many of the nearly 300 counselors were ultimately recalled to their jobs, but not in seniority order. Principals were allowed to choose the counselors they wanted in their schools, and the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers swiftly filed a grievance.
An arbitrator ruled this summer that the district was out of bounds when it bypassed seniority. Ralph H. Colflesh Jr. also said the system violated its contract with the teachers' union by failing to have one full-time counselor at every school.
The district appealed the decision, landing the case in Common Pleas Court Judge Linda Carpenter's hands.
Mills was one of nine lawyers - four district employees, five attorneys from outside firms - representing the cash-strapped district in Carpenter's courtroom Tuesday. He told the judge no language in the contract "gives the counselors the right to be recalled in seniority order. Those words just don't exist."
Ralph Teti, one of two lawyers in court for the union, said its contract does contain language about seniority and layoffs.
"It's existed for decades," Teti said. "For 40 years, the School District has always done recall from layoff by seniority."
Teti also scoffed at the suggestion that the union was attempting to harm the interests of children.
"This is not a case about the importance of counselors," Teti said. "Nobody understands the importance of counselors more than the members of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers."
Carpenter gave no indication of when she would rule, but warned that her job was not to agree or disagree with the arbitrator.
Unless there was a showing that his ruling went completely against "the essence of the collective bargaining agreement," the judge said, she is "required to affirm" his decision.
If that underlying decision stands, the district would not only have to reshuffle counselors currently in the system. It would also have to issue back pay for those who have not been rehired, and also hire more counselors for the system.
Fifty-five of the district's schools now lack a full-time counselor.
District officials have said that it would cost $3.4 million to hire enough counselors to place one in every school building, and millions more to pay back wages.
They said they want to have a counselor in every school, but cannot afford that in their current financial straits.
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