City school board OKs arbitrator’s report on union pact

The city school board voted Wednesday to accept an independent fact-finder’s report on the future contract between the district and teachers union.

The Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers also voted Wednesday, but that result won’t be released until Thursday. If the union votes against it, more negotiations between the two sides could be necessary.

District and union negotiators each brought their outstanding issues to mediator Lewis Amis on Oct. 19, and he made several determinations based on their accounts. The school board approved the report, 7-2, with Moira Kaleida and Sylvia Wilson voting against it.

“I do feel that we are really not so far apart, and this is something that can be resolved at the bargaining table,” Ms. Kaleida said before the vote.

Five-year contracts for union members expired June 30, 2015, and they have been working under the terms of contract extensions that ran out the same day this year. The union represents 2,400 teachers, 565 paraprofessionals and 20 technical-clerical employees.

In a statement, Pittsburgh Public Schools superintendent Anthony Hamlet said he couldn’t budge on two matters: Granting scheduling power to school principals rather than letting teachers set their own, and “an odd loophole” that led to a “revolving door” of teachers in some of the district’s highest-needs schools.

“From Day One, I’ve said that we have to hold our principals accountable. They have to be more than just building managers. But to do that, they must have reasonable, practical management tools necessary to lead,” Mr. Hamlet said, noting that Pittsburgh is one of the only urban school districts in the country to give teachers suchpower.

The “obscure” loophole he cited meant nearly 100 staff were displaced last school year.