Teachers’ strike fails to settle strike
While a negotiation session between the Brownsville Area School District’ board of directors and the Brownsville Education Association (BEA) failed to produce a tentative agreement Thursday, both parties agree the meeting did produce some “positive movement.” BEA spokesperson Diana Michael said Thursday’s meeting consisted of “a lot of positive movement and dialogue.”
“Our negotiation team is very optimistic,” she said.
Director Stella Broadwater, chief negotiator for the district, also said the meeting consisted of “positive movement.”
Neither Broadwater or Michael would comment further on the session. Both Michael and Broadwater said no other talks have been scheduled.
Michael said they should know in a day or so if the two groups have a tentative agreement though.
Until an agreement is reached, the district’s teachers, who have worked without a contract for more than a year, will remain on the picket lines. The districts’ 147 teachers and 2,200 students have been out of classrooms for two weeks.
The BEA called a strike last week after negotiations that began in January 2001 failed to produce a contract. The main sticking points in the talks are health care, salaries and early-incentives.
Thursday’s three-and-a-half-hour meeting marked the second time this week the BEA’s negotiation team and the district have met at the bargaining table.
The two groups met for six hours earlier this week and unexpectedly after a regular board meeting last week.
BEA officials have been optimistic since the board of directors agreed to take Solicitor Matt Hoffman out of negotiations and begin negotiating directly with the BEA’s negotiation team after residents complained at last week’s regular board meeting.
Hoffman had been handling negotiations for the district at a rate of $85 per hour, an a total bill that climbed to $8,653.
The BEA has also removed their advisor, Dan Shuman, Pennsylvania State Education Association representative, from the negotiation process. The group offered to remove Shuman from negotiations if the district agreed to remove Hoffman, which they did.
State law regulates and limits the number of days teachers can strike to ensure that students receive the scheduled 180 days of instruction before June 15.