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School strike ended quickly One-day walkout tried to dramatize Mt. Lebanon 'crisis Wednesday, September 06, 2000 By Laura Pace, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
The 2000-01 school year will start a day late this morning for the approximately 5,700 students in the Mt. Lebanon School District after teachers ended a one-day strike.
Teachers are returning to the classroom without a contract, and the union would not rule out another strike. No new talks were scheduled.
"At this point, the strike is over and they are going back to work [this morning]," said Cathy Perry, the Mt. Lebanon representative from the Pennsylvania State Education Association.
Union leaders had planned yesterday's work stoppage to last just one day, but did not tell that to their membership.
"The purpose of the strike was to raise the consciousness level, so to speak, of the board and the community members so that people would understand ... the educational process is very important to teachers. They really wanted the public to understand what was going on, that there has been little progress," Perry said.
"We think that's an unfortunate tactic for the union to deploy," said Matt Hoffman, the district's chief negotiator. "The board has been committed to these negotiations."
The district and the Mt. Lebanon Education Association are battling out the details on their respective Web sites, each detailing their proposals, calculations and opinions.
Perry said the union believes the district is not bargaining in good faith. The union Web site calls for residents to "demand that their elected officials act responsibly and bargain in good faith, thereby preventing a second strike."
"The mere fact that the board has not capitulated to the association's demands does not mean the board is negotiating in bad faith," Hoffman said.
Union President Mark McCloskey said the one-day strike was meant to capture the attention of the media and the community, an effort he said had paid off without causing a major disruption.
"There just seemed to be a lack of awareness and no sense of impending doom in the community at large," he said.
The strike attracted television, radio stations and other news media, he said, which "highlighted the issues as being a crisis."
"There could still be another strike, and that looms over us all," McCloskey said.
Hoffman said the board regretted the union's action. "It appears the association's one-day strike was for the sole purpose of causing uncertainty and inconvenience to the community as a means of calling attention to the ongoing contract negotiations," he said.
"This type of action, for the purpose of 'sending a message,' is not consistent with the association's regard for the well-being of our students."
Representatives of the approximately 400-member union and the school board have been negotiating since January, including a six-hour session Friday. The teachers' six-year contract expired June 30.
Main sticking points include the board's request to allow teachers to be scheduled for six instructional periods a day rather than the current five periods.
Salaries and health insurance co-payments also are hot buttons. Mt. Lebanon teachers currently earn an average of $56,252, and some teachers are required to contribute to their health insurance premiums, depending on the plan.
The district's contribution is capped.
The board's latest proposal calls for an annual average raise of $1,165 for five years.
The district says that figure represents a 2.1 percent increase, but the union disagrees with the district's calculation method, saying the raises represent only a half-percent increase.
The union has requested a 5.1 percent pay raise over eight years and an elimination of the co-payment on the point-of-service health insurance plan.
The board also wants to "require satisfactory performance as a condition for receiving scheduled salary increases," according to an update sent to residents in August. The union's Web site said such a provision would represent a financial incentive for the district to give unsatisfactory reviews.
Other proposed revisions to the teacher evaluation process would eliminate prior notice for observing teachers' classes. That provision would make such reviews less of an "artificial environment," Hoffman said.
State mediator Joseph Lamenza has been assisting in negotiations.
The union announced its decision to return to work at a news conference at Mt. Lebanon High School yesterday morning.
Teachers picketed school buildings yesterday, wearing signs mentioning the district's several national blue ribbon awards from the U.S. Department of Education.
Other signs said "Award-winning teachers on strike."
The largest picket lines appeared to be at the high school, where the teachers walked the perimeter of the Cochran Road campus.
The line stretched as far as Washington Road and the lower stadium parking lot toward the main park.
Crossing guards still attended their posts to help children whose families did not know about the strike because it was announced during a holiday weekend.
Mt. Lebanon police said five children showed up for class but that the parents took the children home after they were told about the strike.
Yesterday was the fifth day of a strike by 231 Punxsutawney Area teachers in Jefferson County. Those teachers walked off the job Aug. 29, the first day of classes for students in that district.
The next scheduled bargaining session is Oct. 5.
Wythe Keever, spokesman for the Pennsylvania State Education Association, said besides Punxsutawney Area and Mt. Lebanon no teachers in the state have gone on strike so far this school year.
Philadelphia teachers authorized their union leaders yesterday morning to call a strike but no one had given strike notification to district officials as of yesterday afternoon.
The Mt. Lebanon district's negotiations hot line is 412-344-5971. The school board's Web site is www.mtlebanon.k12.pa.us. The teachers' Web site is www.mlea.org.
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