Belle Vernon teachers strike averted; tentative pact reached in 11th-hour deal

Classes for about 2,500 Belle Vernon Area students continued as scheduled Friday after the teachers’ union and school board reached what they hope is a deal on a new contract, a union representative said.

Details of the tentative agreement were not available. The contract still must be approved by the Belle Vernon Area Education Association and the Belle Vernon Area School Board.

The teachers and the school board were in negotiations late into Thursday night, said Fritz Fekete, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania State Education Association in Hunker.

The 161 teachers, nurses and other staff had been working under the terms of the expired agreement since June 30. The school district serves students in Rostraver and North Belle Vernon in Westmoreland County and Belle Vernon, Washington Township and Fayette City in Fayette County.

Prior to reaching the tentative agreement, Daneen Watson, teachers union president, said they were willing to walk off their jobs Friday if an agreement was not reached. As of Thursday, it wasn’t certain that a deal would be reached.

“Our team will have a clear conscience that we tried everything we could,” Watson, a Spanish teacher, said before the last round of talks. “For negotiations to work, both sides have to want to settle. It appears the board’s team just wants to win.”

No progress on a new labor contract was made during a nearly eight-hour session Wednesday night between the negotiation teams under the supervision of a state mediator, according to the statement and district Solicitor Ira Weiss.

Prior to the negotiations Thursday night, Weiss said that salary and benefits were the main sticking points. The board has to consider the effects any property tax increase could have on residents and the need for money to make basic infrastructure improvements to buildings.

“They have to balance all those needs with the demands of the teachers,” Weiss said. “The board would very much like to avert a strike.”

The teachers union put the district on notice this month of its intent to strike if a new agreement wasn’t reached. Discussions on a proposed five-year contract have been occurring since January.

The statement Thursday indicated teachers offered “significant savings to the district, including near cost-neutral proposals in salary.”

The average salary in the district was $77,248 during the 2018-19 school year, according to openpagov.org. Hempfield Area faculty made an average of $80,578 that school year, about $1,000 more than those at Franklin Regional.

“It’s not a unique situation to Belle Vernon, but Belle Vernon is front and center right now,” Weiss said.

The union also gave notice that its members will no longer be handling any duties beyond their contractual obligation, which includes after-hours programs. Coaching athletes and assisting with theatrical productions were not affected.

Those involved with this year’s high school musical previously shared concerns that “Cinderella” may not go on as planned March 19-22. If the show is not performed, the theater department won’t have money to continue the program next school year, according to officials.