HERMITAGE Teachers and board to vote on contract

The teachers' last contract expired June 30, 2001.
HERMITAGE, Pa. -- The Hermitage School Board and teachers will vote June 18 on a tentative contract approved Thursday by negotiators.
Representatives of the school board and Hermitage Education Association, under the prompting of Dr. William Caldwell of the American Arbitration Association, came to an agreement shortly before 8 p.m. Thursday.
Duane Piccirilli, board president, said the terms of the pact won't be disclosed until both sides get a chance to vote on it.
The school board will have a special meeting at 7 p.m. June 18 for that purpose, and the teachers union is expected to vote earlier that day, Piccirilli said.
The 165 teachers have been working without a new contract since their old one expired June 30.
They went on strike for seven days in March after negotiations failed to produce a settlement, but they were ordered back into the classroom by the state to allow the school district to complete 180 days of school by June 15.
The negotiations
The talks then went to nonbinding arbitration with Caldwell and arbiters representing the school board and the teachers charged with making a settlement recommendation to the two sides.
The arbiters held three days of hearings, the last one Thursday, and Caldwell spent much of the time Thursday making suggestions and carrying offers and counteroffers back and forth between the negotiating teams, Piccirilli said.
The result was an agreement that both sides were able to accept, he said.
"I think both sides are happy," he added.
A wage package was the final stumbling block to reaching a settlement. The school board was offering annual average increases of $1,600 in a three-year deal, while teachers were seeking annual raises of $2,200.