Back to negotiations in Perkiomen Valley School District

Teachers contract negotiations will continue with the Perkiomen Valley Education Association’s second rejection of the fact finder’s report.

Ninety-eight percent of the union voted against the report on Jan. 5. Accepting the fact-finding report is an “all or nothing” deal, and at that time, media contact Garreth Heidt said the union couldn’t accept some of the conditions.

“(Some of) the language is vague and ambiguous in many senses in the case of retroactivity,” Heidt said in a phone interview after the first vote. Heidt expressed concern about certain recommendations that would impact “new hires,” wondering who among the current faculty could be considered a new hire.

When contacted last week, Heidt said a second, formal vote would not be taken because the first vote overwhelmingly opposed the report.

"There were no significant reasons why we would go back and reconsider,” said Heidt about the report, according to the Pottstown Mercury.

According to a press release on the Perkiomen Valley School District’s website, School Board President Lynn Bigelow states: "The Board has been working during the past year to settle a contract and align the new agreement with the legally required budget parameters of Act 1 to maintain our programs and staff levels. Any other settlement parameters will require some level of reductions in programs and staff. A high priority goal of the Board is to maintain the gains in PV public education made in past decade for our students. 

"The Board was optimistic that the neutral fact finder's report would lead to a fair settlement. The Board set aside significant issues with several aspects of the fact finder's report and voted unanimously to reach labor peace and show the value of our teachers in this tough economic climate. We were disappointed that PVEA could not do the same and failed to settle the contract negotiations."

Read the fact finder's report here.