California board ratifies contract
CALIFORNIA — The California Area School Board Monday unanimously ratified a three-year agreement with custodial, maintenance and cafeteria workers in the district.
The support staff has been working without a contract since July 1, and the new agreement will be retroactive to that date.
Details of the contract were not released Monday because the members of the Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ AFL-CIO have not yet voted on the offer. District superintendent Brian Jackson said the union will most likely vote on the contract later this month or in January.
Jackson said the contract does call for pay increases during the life of the agreement, which runs through June 30, 2015, though he wasn’t certain if there were pay raises in each of the three years.
The board also unanimously adopted an Act 1 (Taxpayer Relief Act) resolution, saying it will not raise real estate taxes above the inflationary index established by the state. The rate set for the 2013-14 school year is 2.4 percent.
In other matters, the board approved three volunteer parent coaches who will be coaching their own children in individual sports not offered by the district. At last week’s agenda meeting, the district’s athletic director Phil Pergula reported that a recent interpretation of PIAA regulations require individual students who train with a neighboring school district for a sport not offered in their home district must have a coach provided by the home district. In addition, in sports such as wrestling, the athlete must provide his or her own training partner because wrestling with a student from the neighboring district would be considered a scrimmage.
The board approved Janet Mihalek as a volunteer parent indoor track coach for her child, Raymond Campbell as a volunteer parent wrestling coach for his child and Kevin Clancy as a volunteer parent indoor track coach (discus) for his child. Solicitor John Smart said having parents serve as the coach of their own children does not violate the contract with the faculty in which coaching positions are considered bargaining unit jobs.
The board also approved various student teacher placements for January through May and appointed Dana Galiffa as mentor teacher for Art/Computer, Business and Information Technology instructor Alexa Ruby.