Uniontown teacher talks continue
By Carla DeStefano
Herald-Standard
Negotiations will continue after officials from the Uniontown Area School District and the teachers’ association failed to reach a contract agreement once again.
According to Dr. Charles Machesky, district superintendent, on Thursday the school board offered a two-year proposal to the association.
“I anticipate that the offer will be received rather coldly,” Machesky said. “The offer was unreasonable.”
Machesky said he spent much of Friday in discussions with the district’s business manager to re-evualate the proposal.
“Based on that discussion, I am hoping there could be movement off the dead-center position that the board has taken,” Machesky said. “We are hoping to deliver something that is palatable to the taxpayers and fair to the teachers.”
Machesky said there is a major need to better support teachers in the lower steps of the district’s pay scale.
A representative for the association could not be reached for comment on Friday.
The teachers have been working under an expired contract since September. Representatives and teachers claim their salaries are the lowest as compared to the pay of educators of all other districts in the county. UASD is struggling to climb out of $2.9 million in debt.
Machesky said a re-evaluated proposal has been prepared for union officials. Further discussions with the board will take place at the school board work session scheduled for March 14.
“The critical component is Tuesday’s state budget announcement. That’s critical not only for us, but for all school districts. Then we will see what our budgets will look like,” Machesky said. “My objective is for the district to live within its means in all its operational costs, including the teachers’ salaries.”