HERMITAGE SCHOOLTEACHERS If strike occurs, state law limits length

Because of the school calendar and state law, the work stoppage could only be about seven days.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
HERMITAGE, Pa. -- If teachers in the Hermitage School District walk off their jobs Thursday, it won't be a very long strike.
State law regulating teacher strikes has changed since 1975 when the Hermitage Education Association (HEA) went on strike for 22 days and the district had to make up 11 of them.
Now, the state says districts must complete 180 days of classroom education by June 30, the close of the school year. The state secretary of education is empowered to see that goal is reached, even to the point of forcing striking teachers back into the classroom.
The 167-member HEA notified the school district Friday that it will strike Thursday morning unless a new contract is in place.
Discussing issues: Talks are down to economic issues.
There is a bargaining session at 7 p.m. today, and Duane Piccirilli, school board president, said the board is hopeful a strike can be avoided.
If not, there will be no school Thursday nor any subsequent day until the teachers return to the classroom, he said after Monday's school board meeting.
Parents will get a letter sent home with their children Wednesday outlining the situation if a strike is imminent, he said.
The strike will be short-lived, but would be long enough to delay the June 5 graduation for seniors, and it could interfere with summer job and vacation plans and early college admissions.
The state law enacted in 1992 governing teacher negotiations made the strike process complicated.
Teachers can strike, but they have to be back in the classroom soon enough to ensure that a school district completes its 180 days by June 15.
What it means: In the Hermitage case, that would mean a strike of only about seven days because June 5 is the scheduled 180th day of classes in this year's school calendar, allowing only seven working days between that date and June 15.
The state law would then force both sides into nonbinding arbitration in which they present issues to a state-appointed arbiter, who makes a settlement recommendation.
If it's rejected, the teachers can strike again, but only for a short period to ensure that the 180-day requirement is then met by June 30.
However, because it is so late in the school year (Hermitage passed Day 126 Monday) and the arbitration report will take time to complete, it is unlikely Hermitage teachers would have time for a second strike phase before school ends.
They could strike again in the fall if they still have no agreement.
Negotiations on their last contract took 14 months. This one started in January 2001 and is in its 15th month.
The average teacher salary in the district is $47,033. The starting salary is $31,976 while the top teacher rate is just over $60,000.