PINE GROVE — The Pine Grove Area school board and the district’s teachers’ union have reached a four-year contract agreement, which give teachers a pay raise but requires them to contribute more to their health care.
One of the lead negotiators for the school board, David Frew, made the announcement Thursday that the Pine Grove Area Education Association had ratified the plan Monday. Upon Frew’s motion, the board approved the plan. Directors David Lukasewicz and J.T. Herber abstained due to having family members employed with the district. Directors Timothy Hoy and Evelyn Wassel were absent.
“I’m excited about having this finished,” Frew said, commending members of the union’s negotiating team, Brad Fessler, Judy Skinner and Eric Kurtz.
Fessler, a technology education teacher, said the pact includes a 2.9 percent pay increase for each year of the contract, except for the 2015-16 school year, which includes a signing bonus instead.
Fessler said their health care premium share will increase 1 percent for one year and another 1 percent in the final year of the four-year deal for a total increase of 2 percent. There are currently 137 members in the union, Fessler said. Their last three-year pact expired August 31, 2015, but members had remained on the job and had been working without a new contract. This new contract will be retroactive for Sept. 1, 2015, he said.
Current average teacher’s salary is $38,499, Fessler said, which will increase to about $40,000 by the end of the four-year agreement. There are no step changes, he confirmed.
Although the PGAEA membership’s vote was not unanimous, Fessler said the contract received “overwhelming support.”
Fessler commended the board’s cooperative approach to negotiate.
“I appreciate the board sitting down with us and getting the job done. Thank you,” he told the board Thursday.
Total costs to the district for the contract weren’t readily available Thursday. The board entered into an executive session to discuss personnel and contract matters unrelated to the union pact.