Negotiations between Pittsburgh Public Schools, teachers set for next week

Negotiators for Pittsburgh Public Schools and the teachers union will meet next week in yet another attempt to reach a contract agreement and avert a possible strike.

The two parties met for nine hours Tuesday, and both sides said progress was made. That session followed another long bargaining session on Feb. 16. The union would need to provide 48 hour’s notice if it intends to strike, and so far that notice has not been given, said school district solicitor Ira Weiss.

The negotiating teams will try again next week at the call of a state mediator, he said. A specific date was not announced.

State Rep. Jake Wheatley, DHill District, said in a statement Friday that he and other members of the Pittsburgh Black Elected Officials Coalition have a “deep concern” about a potential teacher strike.

“If the final hurdle to finding a resolution is about the principal’s authority to assign teachers where they are most needed in their buildings, then we have confidence a strike can be avoided,” he said. “We strongly encourage

both sides to continue to work together to find a solution. Under no circumstances should our children and their families be the ones to lose because of this perceived ‘ game of chicken.’ “

Five-year contracts for union members ran out June 30, 2015, and they’ve been working under the terms of a contract extension that expired in June 2017. The Pittsburgh Public Schools board voted in November to accept an independent fact-finder’s report on the future contract. The union rejected the factfinder’s suggestions a day later.

District leaders said previously that the ability to give principals scheduling power and removing the “teacher churn” clause of the current contract — which allows teaching positions filled after Aug. 1 to be posted again the next year — remain the two biggest sticking points of the negotiations.

Mr. Weiss said the ability for principals to handle scheduling remains a point of contention, and that he’s also optimistic that the district and the union can reach an agreement.

“We’re trying to work through it,” he said.

Nina Esposito-Visgitis, president of the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers, could not be reached for comment.

The teachers union, which represents 2,400 teachers, 565 paraprofessionals and 20 technical clerical employees, voted overwhelmingly earlier this month to authorize a strike if necessary. The length of a potential strike would be determined by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, because state law says students are required to have 180 days of instruction between July 1 and June 15 each school year.

Mayor Bill Peduto rebuked district leadership earlier this month after he said superintendent Anthony Hamlet declined to meet with him, Ms. Esposito-Visgitis and Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald in an attempt to mediate negotiations and head off a work stoppage.

In a statement at the time, Mr. Hamlet said he was advised by the district’s legal counsel to work in the proper channels with the state mediator.

The mayor released another statement last week as the two parties negotiated, offering again to help mediate.