Peters Twp. denies request for copy of teachers’ deal
Peters Township School District denied a state Right to Know request filed by The Almanac for a copy of its recently reached labor contract with its teachers’ union.
The Almanac, which is owned by Observer Publishing Co., will appeal the denial in writing to the Office of Open Records in Harrisburg.
In its denial letter dated Monday, Vincent Belczyk, the district’s Right to Know officer, wrote “Your request for a copy of the contract has been denied because the signed contract does not exist.”
“You have a right to appeal the denial of any part of your request,” Belczyk’s letter said. A district official previously said the contract language was still being finalized.
The district and its teachers announced May 16 they reached an agreement – after an eight-month dispute – on a new six-year contract retroactive to the start of the 2015-16 school year. The agreement expires June 30, 2021, the district said.
PT’s 285 teachers, who are members of Peters Township Federation of Teachers Local 3421, went on strike last fall for three weeks to protest its contract impasse with the district with the two major issues being salaries and health care costs. According to information released by the district May 16, teachers on steps 2 through 16 receive salary increases of $1,200 annually. Teachers on step 17, the highest salary tier, receive annual increases of $1,000.
The work stoppage, which ended the day after Thanksgiving, pushed the last day of school back for Peters 4,000 students until June 23. Seniors graduated June 10.