{"id":16786,"date":"2017-03-02T14:42:03","date_gmt":"2017-03-02T19:42:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=16786"},"modified":"2017-03-02T14:42:03","modified_gmt":"2017-03-02T19:42:03","slug":"coatesville-teachers-present-petition-with-2k-signatures-to-casd-board","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=16786","title":{"rendered":"Coatesville teachers present petition with 2K signatures to CASD board"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Lauren Parker,<\/strong>\u00a0News Editor, The Times<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"

School board members Ann Wuertz, Dean Snyder and superintendent Dr. Cathy Taschner, listening to public comment during Tuesday’s meeting.<\/p><\/div>\n

CALN \u2013 Another tumultuous school board meeting of the Coatesville Area School district was held Tuesday, during which, the primary focus was yet again on contract negotiations with the Coatesville Area Teachers Association, who has been working without a contract for just over six months.<\/p>\n

As promised, school board president Dean Snyder made a formal statement on behalf of the board, in response to the Coffee with CATA meeting that was held over the weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cTime is the most valuable thing a man can spend,\u201d Snyder began, quoting Greek philosopher Theophrastus.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe time spent between teacher and student can make the difference between struggling in school and enjoying school. We know just how committed our teachers are to their students and to the success of the schools in which they teach everyday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Snyder went on to cite specific items that are stalling negotiations, such as time and the district\u2019s limited ability to control the teacher workday, along with issues surrounding salary and benefits. By the district\u2019s estimate, a difference of $10 million divides CATA and CASD in wages and health care costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is no secret that our district is not wealthy, nor are our taxpayers\u2026in spite of this, everyday we do what we can to live our educational mission statement: Rich in diversity and committed to excellence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Snyder also stated that difficult financial decisions have been made over the past two years; salaries have been standardized at the administrative level and administrative positions have been cut, he also referenced transforming a negative fund balance and improving the district\u2019s bond rating.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs many of you know, CATA has requested fact-finding\u2026we are pleased that CATA has initiated this process and are hopeful that a resolution is on the horizon.\u201d Snyder stated.<\/p>\n

Snyder explained that fact-finding involves the assignment of a neutral third party by the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board to examine the proposals from both sides and provide a recommended contract. The school board and CATA are then given an opportunity to accept or reject the fact-finding recommendations in their entirety, however if rejected, the recommendations can serve as guidelines for new negotiations and potentially a settlement.<\/p>\n

Finally, Snyder said the district will be increasing their communication efforts and announced there is a new section on the website called \u201cNegotiation Updates\u201d and plans to continue issuing press releases to ensure that members of the community understand the process.<\/p>\n

As a result of the nomination committee for the CASD board of directors and CATA being unable to reach an agreement in their negotiations, Audra Ritter, president of CATA, presented the school board with more than 2,000 signatures from community members within the school district, requesting a fair and equitable contract for the teachers.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Members of the Coatesville Area Teachers Association, dressed in blue as a sign of unity for the meeting.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cTonight, we present the school board with a petition that has been signed by over 2,000 teachers and community members, supporting the teachers and asking the board to quickly settle a fair and competitive contract,\u201d Ritter said, \u201cSo all of us can move forward and continue to provide our students with the excellent education they have always had and deserve to get.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ritter also stated that the board has submitted two proposals since the negotiations began over a year ago; one in March and the second one in November. According to Ritter, the second proposal \u201cmoved the other way\u201d and instead of closing the gap, it actually moved both sides further apart.<\/p>\n

More than a dozen people signed up to speak during public comment and raised issues such as losing quality teachers over the past two years, due to the work environment and the higher salaries that are offered in neighboring districts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my opinion, things are spiraling downward in the district,\u201d said Tony Scheivert, a resident in the district. \u201cNot giving the teachers a fair contract will force other great teachers to leave.<\/p>\n

Scheivert also referenced a Facebook post in which school board member Tom Siedenbuehl claimed \u201c the teachers are just in it for the money\u201d and disputed that post by pointing out that they are the lowest paid teachers in the district in the county. He then gave an example of teachers\u2019 dedication to their students by describing an email sent by his daughter\u2019s ELA teacher at 6:30 a.m. on a recent day off.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is something that someone who is in it just for the money, does not do.\u201d Scheivert said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI stand here before you tonight to implore you to come to the table with a fair and equitable contract for our teachers,\u201d said Joy Stewart, a Coatesville alumna. \u201cIn the past several years, we have lost quality teachers to neighboring school districts. I do not want to see the children in this district lose one more hard working teacher.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stewart went on to say, \u201cWe are the Coatesville Area School District. The teachers and students deserve a fair and professional atmosphere\u2026the teachers deserve a fair contract and as taxpayers, we demand that you negotiate a fair and equitable contract.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Lauren Parker,\u00a0News Editor, The Times CALN \u2013 Another tumultuous school board meeting of the Coatesville Area School district was held Tuesday, during which, the primary focus was yet again on contract negotiations with the Coatesville Area Teachers Association, who has been working without a contract for just over six months. As promised, school board […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16787,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[5754,1326,2780,6248,3912,6249],"class_list":["post-16786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-cata","tag-coatesville-area-school-board","tag-coatesville-area-school-district-casd","tag-contract-negotiations","tag-featured","tag-teachers-contract"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16786","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=16786"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16786\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16788,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16786\/revisions\/16788"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}