CV Approves Contract Extension with Teachers

The Chartiers Valley School Board unanimously approved a three-year contract extension for the district’s teachers’ union during its Tuesday night voting meeting.

The board agreed to the extension more than a year before the current contract is set to expire, meaning there will be labor peace in the Chartiers Valley School District until at least 2017.

Sally Shollenberger, president of the Chartiers Valley Federation of Teachers, said the union was pleased to negotiate a contract extension before their current deal expired at the end of the 2013-14 school year.

“Our process went very, very smoothly,” she told Chartiers Valley Patch in a phone interview on Wednesday.

The contract will offers several incentives for both sides:

• An average salary increase of 2.05 percent over the three-year period for the new contract. However, the total cost increase for the district could be closer to 6 percent if there are no retirements this year. School officials are not sure what the average payraise increase will be until later this spring.

• No increase in employee medical expenses

• The workday will increase from 7 ½ hours to 8 hours beginning in the 2014-15 school year.

• Reduced work days from 193 to 190

• Curriculum leaders will be established and modeled after a similar program implemented by Upper St. Clair. Instructional leaders work an extra year to expand their typical classroom duties. It will also help the district to improve on how its strategic plan is implemented.

• A new position called an instructional practitioner will be installed in the bargaining unit. They will provide academic support in the classroom and engage in instructional activities under the leadership of a master teacher. This is designed to create flexibility in leadership activities and help to identify “future outstanding teachers” within the district.

“We’d like to thank the members of the Chartiers Valley Federation or Teachers, administration and school board for developing a shared vision that focuses our resources on equipping our students to achieve personal success,” the district said in the press release.

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