When: Monday, May 4
Where: Munhall # 4 Fire Hall along Main St.
Time: 7 p.m.
Each candidate will speak briefly and answer questions.
Residents of Munhall, Homestead and West Homestead are welcome!
Hosted by Citizens in the community.
Steel Valley SD School Board try to deflect blame to teachers after the removal of SpecEd restroom.
By Democratic Underground
Diana Borges, director of pupil personnel, special services and elementary education ruled a student in the special education classroom will be required to use the faculty restroom in the bottom floor of the school rather than be forced to climb stairs to the student restroom. The teachers filed a grievance over the decision. The grievance was backed by 18 teachers, including 2 special education teachers. The teachers are being made out as selfish for filing the grievance. However, the school district removed the restroom that had been in the special education classroom for a ventilation unit. It makes one wonder what the conditions were in the special education classroom that the school had to add ventilation equipment rather than keep an easily accessible restroom for the children. The lack of investigation in the newspaper article is quite glaring.
The teachers’ representative stated in the article that they were trying to get a decision that would benefit all the kids whose classrooms were on that floor.
Diana Borges admitted “the lower level used to have a small students bathroom in the special education room. But recently a ventilation issue forced the district to use that space for a ventilation unit.”
The school district puts the special education classroom in the ground floor of the building without access to an elevator. Then, they remove the only handicapped accessible bathroom for students on that floor for ventilation, “recently”. Another article mentions the special needs kids have to go outside and up stairs to be able to go to music and art.
The teachers, including the special education teachers, file a grievance which is supposed to be confidential, but is released to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette which used the information to make a teacher bashing story. They conveniently bury the information about the removal of the restroom in the special education classroom. The administration made a decision to force all the special needs kids to use the restrooms upstairs rather than rebuild the restroom they removed.
In addition, the little girl in the article cannot attend music or art classes, because she cannot climb the stairs to those classes. Music and art are vital to the education of children with disabilities.
Most of the comments to the article are anti-teacher and anti-union. They fail to understand how the school board has been in violation of the ADA and probably IDEA. The school board is more interested in bashing the teachers than in providing a proper education and proper facilities for all students. The people of this school district need to elect people who care about all the kids to the school board.
Read More: http://betterment.democraticunderground.com/10026422534
Steel Valley union drops restroom grievance
By Michael DiVittorio
Steel Valley Education Association is withdrawing its grievance regarding the use of a faculty restroom by a Park Elementary School student with special needs.
Association president Shawn McCallister sent an email to district Superintendent Edward Wehrer informing him the union was withdrawing the grievance over the student’s use of the first-floor restroom “while the district resolves the problem and makes the building accessible to all students and teachers.”
The student, 10-year-old Kaitlin Montgomery, has pulmonary hypertension and chronic lung disease, which make it difficult for her to climb stairs or walk any distance. She needs to use the faculty restroom because it is the only restroom near her special education class.
The school board unanimously denied the grievance at its meeting Thursday.
Wehrer denied the grievance earlier this year before it went to the board.
School director Michael Terrick released the association’s email to The Daily News on Friday night.
“I was embarrassed for the teachers and appalled by this grievance,” Kaitlin’s mother, Tracy Montgomery, told school directors before the vote on Thursday.
Montgomery said her daughter got medical clearance in January to attend the public school part time because of health issues.
Montgomery said she was initially told her daughter would have to use student restrooms on other levels of the school because one that used to be on the ground floor had been converted for other purposes.
Montgomery said she took the issue to an advocacy group for special needs students and was told that her daughter’s right to use the faculty restroom is protected by federal laws that trump any provisions in the teachers contract restricting her use of the facility.
The administration took that position, too, and approved her use of the restroom, prompting the grievance from the union.
McCallister defended the grievance Thursday.
“Our teachers are not fighting an accommodation for a special needs student,” McCallister said. “Rather, our teachers at Park Elementary School are seeking a solution to an issue that will provide a better outcome for all parties involved.”
McCallister reiterated those statements in his email to the superintendent.
“The grievance that was filed is not only about the exclusive faculty bathroom, it is about a much broader subject of an (Americans with Disabilities Act) acceptable facility at Park Elementary, as well as all buildings in the district,” McCallister wrote. “We also have other children who are affected by the lack of ADA facilities in our buildings.”
“If we have a building that needs to be brought up to compliance, this is the first we’ve ever heard about it,” Terrick said. “We certainly are (pleased the union withdrew the grievance). This certainly gave the district a black eye in the public’s mind. We have (to do) some restoration work to our reputation as a school district.”
Terrick said district officials likely will contact Tower Engineers, a firm that has worked on numerous district projects through the years, in an effort to address ADA issues.
“We do realize as a public entity we fall under different guidelines than private companies do,” Terrick said.
McCallister and Wehrer could not be reached for comment Friday.
Board president Donna Kiefer declined to comment on the matter Friday evening.
McCallister Responds to Board About Bathroom Grievance
(The following statement was made by SVEA President Shawn McCallister to the Steel Valley School Board during Thursday’s public meeting)
Good evening, President Kiefer and members of the Board. My name is Shawn McCallister and I am a Munhall resident and the president of the Steel Valley Education Association. I would like to make a statement regarding the grievance filed by our organization in relation to the use of bathroom facilities at Park Elementary School.
First, I would like to address the use of the grievance process in general. It is a well-established principle in labor relations that the grievance process is the best tool that the Association has to work with to find solutions to issues involving the collective bargaining agreement. This agreement, entered into by both the school board and teachers, stipulates the use of the grievance process as the means by which to resolve an issue that has not come up before, as is the case with the issue before us today. In addition, the contract entered into by both the school board and teachers requires grievance issues to remain confidential, so the Association cannot comment publicly on the details of any grievance issues. Even though the school board continues to violate provisions of the contract that it voted to approve less than a month ago, the Association will not engage in the same behavior.
That being said, I feel it is important that our Association address this situation, which has been misconstrued and mischaracterized in reports to the press. Our teachers are not “fighting an accommodation for a special needs student” as has been stated in one recent article. Rather, our teachers at Park Elementary are seeking a solution to an issue that will provide a better outcome for all the parties involved. Our use of the grievance process to achieve this result – one that we hope will provide the student in question with the best possible outcome – should not be construed to mean that we are in any way “fighting” the needs of the children we teach. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Each of our 135 teachers strives to provide the best education possible for the students of the Steel Valley School District. Our daily work lives revolve around our kids, and trying to ensure that all their futures are brighter as a result of our work. Unfortunately, we are not in control of the physical condition of the school district’s facilities – that is ultimately the responsibility of the Board of Education.
We stand ready to discuss this, and any other ongoing issues with the Board. It is our aim to create the best learning environment possible for our students as well as our teachers. We hope that this is also the intention of the Board.
Steel Valley teachers deal provides 4.7 percent raise
The new five-year teachers contract in the Steel Valley School District provides an average 4.73 percent salary increase over the life of the pact, taking the top-scale teacher with a master’s degree to a $96,451 salary by the 2018-19 school year.
The 4.73 percent increase includes annual raises of less than 1 percent and annual salary steps, said district solicitor Donald Fetzko. The contract is retroactive to July 1, 2014 and will expire at the beginning of the 2019-20 school year.
The district’s 135 teachers approved the contract on March 9 and the board approved it Thursday. But details were not released until a joint news release by the district and union was issued Monday.
Under the new agreement, a starting teacher with a bachelor’s degree will be paid $43,183 this year and a teacher at the top of the scale with a master’s will make $93,151. In the final year of the contract, the salary for a starting teacher with a bachelor’s degree will be $44,674.
Teachers’ contributions to their health insurance will increase from 5 percent of their salary for a family plan to 7.5 percent in 2015-16 and continue to increase annually to 10 percent in 2018-19.
The teachers also agreed to extend the school year from 190 to 192 days, adding two in-service days, and increasing the school day by 15 minutes on Mondays, Mr. Fetzko said.
(By Pittsburgh Post Gazette, March 16)
Read more:
Steel Valley School Board Ratifies Union Contract with Teachers
Steel Valley School Board approved the union contract with the teachers on Thursday, March 12, in a 9-0 vote.
The teachers had voted to approve the contract on Tuesday.
Steel Valley Teachers Deserve a Fair Contract
Steel Valley Education Association has been without a contract since Aug. 19, 2014. The district has a $10.5 million surplus, yet our pay has been frozen for 3 of the last 4 years. Meanwhile school directors belittle teachers in public meetings. Don’t hate. Negotiate. We deserve a fair contract.
Steel Valley Teachers Issue Strike Notice
Teachers to strike March 9, 2015, if unable to reach agreement
Homestead (March 6, 2015) — The Steel Valley Education Association (SVEA) today issued to the Steel Valley School District a notice of intent to strike on Monday, March 9, should the two sides fail to reach an agreement prior to that date.
The strike notice reads as follows: “This is to inform [the Steel Valley School District] that it is the earnest hope of the Steel Valley Education Association that ongoing negotiations will result in a successor agreement between the parties. To that end, the negotiations team will be available to meet as a full team or in sidebar as often as necessary to achieve this goal. Should negotiations fail to generate an agreement, please consider this to be notice of the intention of Steel Valley Education Association to strike, effective Monday, March 9, 2015.”
The notice was delivered to the Steel Valley School District negotiators on Friday, March 6, 2015.
“The SVEA has been in contract negotiations with the school district since 2013, and although the SVEA has been ready and willing to negotiate, and has repeatedly scheduled bargaining sessions during that time, the district has either canceled or postponed bargaining sessions time and time again. Board members who are expected to be bargaining in good faith with the teachers have failed to show up at all,” said Sue Salapa, spokesperson for the SVEA. “It is clear that the board is not serious about reaching a successor agreement with the teachers in Steel Valley. Regrettably, we are left without any other means to force the Board to come to the bargaining table and negotiate a successor agreement.”
Although some issues have been resolved since the beginning of bargaining in 2013, much more discussion is needed before the two sides are close to an agreement.
“We hope it’s abundantly clear that our goal is to secure a contract that’s fair to both the Steel Valley teachers and the school district,” said Ms. Salapa. “Our decision to go on strike is due to the Board’s blatant unwillingness to come to the table and negotiate. The Steel Valley community deserves better. We urge parents and community members in the district to contact the Board and express their support for the teachers and education professionals of Steel Valley, who deserve a fair contract.”
“The teachers have been incredibly patient, but they can’t keep waiting for a school board that refuses to be active in negotiations,” said Shawn McCallister, president of the SVEA. “It’s almost impossible to reduce the number of issues since the board members are either unprepared or unwilling to make decisions regarding what can be accepted. We’ve been spinning our wheels meeting after meeting.
However, the SVEA remains willing to meet with the Board as often as possible. We provided the Board with an open invitation to meet at their convenience, but they have not responded. Our goal is to reach a tentative agreement with the Board and not need to strike.”
The Steel Valley Education Association has been negotiating since January, 2013, and has been without a contract for 202 days, since August 19, 2014. The SVEA represents 134 teachers and education specialists employed by the Steel Valley School District.
Why Do We Need Teachers Unions?
This short film from the Badass Teachers Association explains why we need teachers unions:
Steel Valley to post teacher, administrator salaries online
By Michael DiVittorio
Saturday, Feb. 28, 2015, 12:01 a.m.
Salaries of Steel Valley School District teachers and administrators soon will be posted on the district’s website.
School directors voted 6-3 Thursday to direct the administration to publish those salaries “in an effort to be more transparent to our stakeholders,” according to the meeting agenda.
School board president Donna Kiefer, vice president Colette Youngblood and school directors Donald Bajus, Coyleen Steele, Mary Yuhas and Mike Terrick voted in favor. School directors Beth Cannon, Thomas Olson and Susan Ballas dissented.
Ballas said if the district is going to post salaries, it should post the names of people with delinquent real estate taxes. She said another reason she is against the move is because the district is in negotiations with the teachers union.
“I did not understand what (publishing salaries) would accomplish,” she said.
Steel Valley Education Association’s three-year contract expired in June 2014. The next negotiation session is scheduled for Monday.
Teachers in attendance delivered thunderous applause for the no votes. A few claps were heard for affirmative votes.
“I’m a teacher and I wouldn’t be offended if my stuff was posted,” Yuhas said.
“What do we have to hide?” Steele asked.
District business manager John Zenone said salaries will be posted within 10 days at steelvalleysd.org.
Superintendent Ed Wehrer cited Baldwin-Whitehall as another district that posts salaries.
Baldwin-Whitehall school directors in January approved posting salaries, as well as contracts, bills and other documents. The board voted unanimously to post documents to its website. The vote to post 2014 employee salaries, once the district issues W-2 forms for tax preparation, was 5-3, with board members Tracy Macek, Karen Brown and vice president Larry Pantuso dissenting. Board member Patricia Nixon was absent.
Steel Valley superintendent secretary Kim Watkins said the district currently has 138 teachers and 12 administrators, including a food service director and facilities director.
Zenone provided some salary figures based on the start of the 2014-15 school year, when the district had 123 teachers and the rest were furloughed.
Zenone said the average teacher salary was $64,500, with 24 teachers making at least $90,000. The average administrator’s salary was approximately $80,300, with the lowest salary $56,650 and the highest at $103,180.
Salaries for 2015-16 have not yet been established because the district has not adopted its final budget or approved a new teachers contract.
In other business, school directors unanimously accepted the resignation of Sharon Janosko as high school band auxiliary unit coordinator, effective May 26.
Joseph Panaia will retire as Park Elementary School custodian effective June 8. Brittany Baradziej was appointed to an elementary music supplemental position for Park and Barrett elementary schools.
Trib Total Media Staff Writer Stephanie Hacke contributed to this story. Michael DiVittorio is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-664-9161, ext. 1965, or mdivittorio@tribweb.com.
Steel Valley Teachers 