Chesco, Delco teachers rally over stalled talks

Chester and Delaware County teachers and support staff working without contracts rallied Thursday to draw attention to what they say are stalled negotiations.

"It's not that they're just unsettled," said Zeek Weil, southeastern representative for the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA). "School boards cancel meetings, reject proposed dates that we offer, come unprepared, hold 30-minute bargaining sessions, and then just want to go home. So it's very frustrating to our members."

In Media, teachers from five Delaware County affiliates - the Rose Tree Media, Ridley, Interboro, Garnet Valley, and Chester Upland School Districts - and secretaries and aides in Interboro and Chester Upland, demonstrated in front of the Media courthouse.

In Chester County, teachers from the Avon Grove Intermediate Unit and the Octorara Area and Oxford Area School Districts picketed in their own areas.

"You go in every day because it's for the kids," Korri Brown, PSEA southeast regional president, said at the Media rally. "That doesn't negate the fact that we need fair contracts."

Brian Forney, president of the Ridley Education Association, said his members were seeking guaranteed prep time and an annual raise of less than 1 percent for those at the top of the salary scale.

Interboro's 437 teachers and support staff took a pay freeze for part of their last contract, union president-elect Dan McGrath said.

The school board has proposed a three-year salary freeze and a big increase in health-premium shares, as well as a doubling of co-pays, McGrath said.

The offer would "turn the district into a temporary stop to build a resume, not a career," he said.

But Interboro school board President Kathy Hauder said the board was "bargaining in good faith, and we certainly hope for a speedy resolution. We certainly value our teachers and the job they do."

Dangling over negotiations is an anticipated increase in school districts' shares of the Public School Employee Retirement System (PSERS) fund, she said.

In Octorara, the union that represents 291 teachers and support staff says that just getting to the negotiating table has been tough since the contract expired in June.

"We put out five dates over the next two months to meet, and what we got back were no dates and with no alternatives," said Adam Udell, chief negotiator for the Octorara Area Education Association.