Split over strike, crowd makes for raucous Bethel Park meeting
Parents and residents angered by this week's teachers strike in Bethel Park competed with the teachers for the ear of the school board at a raucous meeting last night.
Half the auditorium at Independence Middle School was packed with teachers wearing "on strike" placards who cheered during public comment whenever a speaker urged the school board to go back to the bargaining table.
The other half was filled with parents, residents and a few students who got loud whenever someone decried the strike, or the teacher salaries and benefits.
"I just settled a contract with the IBEW," said resident Dennis McLaughlin, a lineman. "I lost $2,000 a year paying more for my health insurance, and I was happy to get it."
In anticipation of a crowd of about 200, the board's monthly meeting was moved from the administration building to the auditorium at Independence Middle School.
The 391 members of the Bethel Park Federation of Teachers walked off the job Monday, having worked under the terms of a contract that expired June 30. Negotiations had been ongoing since January, and a mediator was set to go back into talks with the teachers and administration today.
"While we're guarded, and the first meeting after a strike can be difficult, we're ready to settle," said Walt Michalski, spokesman for the American Federation of Teachers.
"We've made a huge investment in our facilities -- tens of thousands of dollars," said Tom Majernik, who spoke to the school board in support of the teachers. "I would hope you would make the same investment in our professionals."
Neither the district nor the union would discuss details of the negotiations, but Michalski previously said the sides were at odds over pay, health insurance, class size and the length of the work day and school year.
"My big thing is that there's nothing out in the open here," said Bill Sartore, 52, who has two children in high school. "It's not like a factory, where you can walk off the job and leave your tools. There are kids there, and it hurts them."
Under the old contract, base salaries ranged from $45,700 to $92,548 depending on experience and education.
Teachers paid 0.525 percent to 0.95 percent of their annual gross salaries toward health premiums -- about $240 a year for someone at the bottom of both scales, and $880 for someone making the top base salary and paying the maximum rate.
If the teachers don't return to work by Nov. 8, district administrators will teach seniors so they can keep their June 4 graduation date, said school spokeswoman Vicki Flotta.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education said that if the strike lasts beyond Dec. 5, the district and union would go into "mandated best-offer arbitration" so the rest of the students would complete their mandated 180 days of instruction by June 15.
Seniors who needed to retake the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests were scheduled to do so this week, but Bethel Park High School Principal Zeb Jansante might reach out to the education department to reschedule, Flotta said. Athletic events and some field trips are continuing as scheduled, with students boarding buses at the community center during school hours when pickets have the schools shut down.
Sherry Allsop said she and other parents at Ben Franklin Elementary organized a Halloween celebration for this afternoon in lieu of festivities that would normally take place at the school. A parade will be held at the community center on Park Avenue starting at 2 p.m., with a party to follow at the fire department.
"We're anticipating about 300 kids," Allsop said. "Every parent has stepped up and made sure the kids come first."
Bethel Park teachers have gone on strike five times before in the last 30 years, in the 1979-80 school year, 1983-84, 1986-87, 1993-94 and 1999-2000, Flotta said.
