City schools, teachers finalize contract
The Pittsburgh Public Schools board on Wednesday approved the new four-year contract with the teachers union.
The agreement is retroactive to July 1, 2020, and extends through June 2024.
Teachers in the district had been working on the terms of their previous contract since June 30, 2020, when their last deal with the district expired.
The board approved the measure 7-0-1. Board member Sala Udin abstained; Kevin Carter was absent.
“With all of the challenges that have been brought before the district over the past year due to the pandemic, it was our teachers who kept pushing and fighting for our students,” Superintendent Anthony Hamlet said after the vote. “I am proud that we reached an agreement that honors our teacher’s professionalism and commitment to this district and our students.”
The Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers and the district had reached a tentative contract agreement on July 31 for the approximately 2,400 members of its professional unit, which includes teachers and some other staff. Unit members ratified the contract Monday night.
Unit members who were at the top step of the wage scale before the 2020- 21 school year will receive a $1,000 one-time lump sum bonus payment provided the employee remains in a position in the union as of the date of ratification. Eligible employees who remain employed in a position in the unit as of the ratification date will also move one step retroactive to their increment date in 2020-21.
In 2021-22 school year, unit members will receive a .5% wage increase on all internal steps, and those at the top step will get a 1.8% wage increase plus step movement effective for the 2020-21 school year.
Members will receive a .5% increase on all internal steps, and a 2% increase on the top step plus step movement in the 2022-23 and 202324 school years.
Negotiations continue for the federation’s two other units, which represent para professionals and technical clerical workers.
Nina Esposito-Visgitis, the PFT president, said the union fought against several items that eventually made it into the contract, including the provision that allows the district to change school start and end times. But district officials would not budge because their student transportation plans hinged on those modifications.
The adjustments should allow the school system to hold in-person instruction five days a week as it helps ensure rides to and from school for thousands of students who would not have had it otherwise due to a major bus driver shortage, according to district officials. If the changes were not made, officials said, the district may have had to implement a remote or hybrid learning system.
“Thisapproved agreement also allows the district to implement the return of students for in-person instruction five days a week,” Mr. Hamlet said. “This approval will also help our district immediately address and implement the multitiered bussing schedule that will increase the number of routes one bus driver can make and narrow our seat gap challenges.”
The changes mean the city’s high schools, 6-12 schools and special education centers, including Conroy, Pioneer and Oliver Citywide, will start at 7:15 a.m. — earlier than before those buildings. Schools serving students from all areas of the city, including magnet schools, partial magnet and neighborhood schools, as well as schools that serve as regional sites for special education students and Englishlanguage learners, will start at 9:25 a.m. — later than before for those buildings.
Schools will also dismiss students earlier or later depending on when they start.
A number of parents have asked the district to scrap the time changes, noting that they could interfere with parent work schedules and negatively impact the health of high school students, who generally need more sleep.
When asked why high schools had to start so early, Megan Patton, the district’s director of pupil transportation, said it was because of the number of buses that service the schools. She noted that before the changes, most high school students were already dropped off at school between 7:05 a.m. and 7:15 a.m.
“We have the most buses available at the earlier times and need those to service the tier with the most buses,” she said.
Ms. Patton also said switching high schools to a different time slot would create a number of complications.
“Swapping high school with another grade would jeopardize a number of different areas, such as coordinating the capacity on Port Authority [buses], increasing the number of students Downtown during peak hours, limiting the hours students would be able to work or possibly babysit, and difficulty around scheduling athletics and extracurricular activities,” she said.