{"id":15410,"date":"2016-10-31T10:54:08","date_gmt":"2016-10-31T14:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=15410"},"modified":"2016-10-31T10:54:08","modified_gmt":"2016-10-31T14:54:08","slug":"teachers-students-pack-casd-board-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=15410","title":{"rendered":"Teachers, students pack CASD board meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Teachers’ union sets the record straight on contract requirements<\/em><\/h2>\n

By Lauren Parker- Gill<\/strong>, News Editor, The Times<\/em><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The auditorium at the Coatesville Area Senior High School was packed with over 300 members of CATA Tuesday, some of whom spoke of the current contract negotiations.<\/p><\/div>\n

CALN \u2013 Hundreds of members of the Coatesville Area Teachers\u2019 Association (CATA)\u00a0turned out Tuesday night for the school board meeting of the Coatesville Area School District to urge board members to come to an agreement to their contract that has been expired since Aug. 30.<\/p>\n

Though it seemed to be business as usual according to the board meeting agenda, the packed auditorium with\u00a0members of the teachers’ unions \u2013 all wearing blue as a sign of unity \u2013 and a surprising amount of high school students told a different story.<\/p>\n

Not only did several union members speak one-by-one, they also individually clarified or disputed facts on a handout that was called, \u201cTeacher\u2019s Fact Sheet,\u201d which was provided by the district at September\u2019s board meeting.<\/p>\n

Some facts the district listed as part of the contract are actually required by Pennsylvania Department of Education, such as 189 workdays, paid lunches, as well as 10 sick days and two personal days for those who work a normal school year.<\/p>\n

Also noted during the presentation given by teachers is that district administrators also receive health care, prescription, dental, vision and life insurance plans, on top of their salaries as the teachers do, yet they all received salary increases.<\/p>\n

Questions were also raised regarding the so-called improved technology. A survey sent to teachers throughout the district indicates repeated and ongoing problems with their new laptops and further feedback shows the laptops provided to them offer fewer features than the laptops they used previously.<\/p>\n

\"Coatesville<\/a>

Coatesville senior Meghan Atwell (left) pictured with senior Nia Giordano showed support for the teachers of the Coatesville Area School District at the school board meeting last week.<\/p><\/div>\n

As teachers and students each took to the microphone to speak, the other students and members of CATA, who remained at their seats, silently stood in support of one another.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would personally like to thank the teachers who don\u2019t give up and for emphasizing the importance of respectfully and responsibly standing up for yourself and others,\u201d said CASH senior Meghan Atwell. \u201cEverything you do and both academic and life lessons you give us each and everyday, will never be forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease work with us,\u201d said CATA president Audra Ritter at Tuesday\u2019s meeting. \u201cLet\u2019s find a fair and equitable compromise so that we can continue with our mission to make Coatesville great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Eckert, a teacher at the high school and 2016 Ross Kershey award winner, had not planned to speak but felt inspired by the support of the students.<\/p>\n

\u201cForty-six of my students received full college credit because they passed the AP Human Geography or AP World History exam last year. My students saved over $70,000 in college tuition costs just last year alone.\u201d Eckert stated. \u201cI\u2019ve been here 13 years, I have a master\u2019s degree from Penn State and I make $59,700 a year.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to school board president, Dean Snyder, the negations committee, which consists of school board members Stuart Deets, Tom Siedenbuehl and Snyder, has met with members of CATA in 16 negotiation sessions so far.<\/p>\n

Snyder states that CATA has come to the table requesting a salary increase of over 4.5% each year for four years.<\/p>\n

\"From<\/a>

From left to right: school board president Dean Snyder, superintendent Dr. Cathy Taschner, recording secretary Karen Jackson and region one representative Deborah Thompson listened intently to each speaker during public comment.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThis is not sustainable for the taxpayers in our district,\u201d Snyder said in a phone call. \u201cBased on the information provided to the negotiations committee of the board, it appears that CATA has received salary increases of more than 4% in eight out of 10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI always appreciate seeing people at our public school board meetings, however I have concerns if teachers may be giving one-sided information to students,\u201d Snyder continued. \u201cIt is important for everyone to know both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want a fair contract to end this protracted situation with the School Board,\u201d said Ritter in an email in response.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe unexpected outpouring of support by our students at Tuesday\u2019s meeting is a prime demonstration of the impact teachers have each and every day on the more than 7000 students in the Coatesville community.\u00a0 The pride our teachers felt seeing their students stand up and speak out and participate in their community can\u2019t be put into words.\u201d Ritter continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs teachers, it\u2019s about meeting learning objectives and making assessments but our ultimate goal is to train young people to stand up for themselves, to have the confidence to speak out when something isn\u2019t right. To watch the maturity and advocacy of\u00a0our students on display Tuesday night was nothing shy of inspirational.\u00a0 I hope the board feels the same way,\u201d stated Ritter.<\/p>\n

Superintendent Dr. Cathy Taschner did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Unfairly overshadowed that night is the unanimous school board vote to implement a boys\u2019 lacrosse club team, subject to oversight and revisions by the athletic director, Vincent Leavy.<\/p>\n

Also voted upon was the hiring of a new school district police officer with a salary of $57,500, effective Nov. 7, pending 168 forms.<\/p>\n

Holcomb Behavioral Health will now be using two classrooms for truancy classes for parents and students; upon completion of four classes, truancy fines will be waived.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Teachers’ union sets the record straight on contract requirements By Lauren Parker- Gill, News Editor, The Times CALN \u2013 Hundreds of members of the Coatesville Area Teachers\u2019 Association (CATA)\u00a0turned out Tuesday night for the school board meeting of the Coatesville Area School District to urge board members to come to an agreement to their contract […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15411,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3908,5754,3912,5755],"class_list":["post-15410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-casd-school-board","tag-cata","tag-featured","tag-teacher-contract"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15410"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15412,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15410\/revisions\/15412"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}