Teachers, district close to a deal on new contract

Contract talks continue between the SpringFord Area School District and the Spring-Ford Education Association teachers union after the previous contract expired Aug. 20.

While a deal isn’t in place just yet, representatives from both sides of the table remained hopeful, saying they believe they can reach one before the first day of school on Monday.

Solicitor Mark Fitzgerald updated the board on the status of the negotiations Aug. 21, saying the two sides havemade “substantive progress over the course of the summer.”

“At this point there are terms that the parties have shared amongst each other and will be brought back to the respective parties for consideration,” Fitzgerald said, “with the hopes of potentially bringing resolution to this very shortly.”

Should talks break down, that will be brought to the board’s attention at future meetings, but Fitzgerald said there as good news to report at this point.

“If everything goes right there’s anticipation that a possible resolution could come at or before the start of the school year,” he said.

Union President Zach Laurie agreed with the status assessment.

“I’m happy to echo what (Fitzgerald) said,” he said. “We are extremely close. We’ve been working really hard over the summer both with our teamand with the solicitor (and district chief negotiator) Jeff Sultanik. We feel we’re very close and hopeful to have a contract settled very soon.”

Talks between both sides of the bargaining table have been ongoing since last October. Official talks began this summer and the two sides met several times. The union’s previous contract expired Aug. 20.

Meanwhile, hundreds of teachers union members have attended the last several board meetings wearing the same blue union T-shirts in solidarity. The rank-and-file membership authorized its leadership to go on strike should ne- gotiations fail. The authorization doesn’t guarantee a strike will happen, but it does allow the union’s leadership to make that decision if it thinks the action is needed.

“If everything goes right there’s anticipation that a possible resolution could come at or before the start of the school year.” — Solicitor Mark Fitzgerald