New Kensington-Arnold teachers set to strike beginning Monday

Teachers in the New Kensington-Arnold School District will walk off the job Monday if they and the district can’t agree on a new contract by then.

The New Kensington-Arnold Education Association sent a formal strike notice to district Superintendent Chris Sefcheck after talks Wednesday night failed to produce a settlement, said Fritz Fekete, Southwestern region advocacy coordinator for the Pennsylvania State Education Association.

The last contract between the district and union expired Aug. 31. The union, which represents 151 teachers and professional staff, authorized a strike in March.

After 14 months of negotiations, the union said Thursday it was left with no choice but to strike.

“A strike is the last thing we want to do,” said association President Ashley Pujol, a health and physical education teacher. “We are calling a work stoppage because although we have been bargaining in good faith for a successor contract since December 2020, the district has been unwilling to reach a reasonable agreement on the single issue that is left outstanding — health care premiums.”

Superintendent Chris Sefcheck could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday. Assistant Superintendent Jon Banko had no comment when contacted in-person at the district administration building.

Both sides have said that how much teachers should pay for health care benefits is the only unresolved issue.

Pujol said the union has made offers and concessions to meet the district in the middle, but claimed the district wants to increase its members premiums by upward of 100%.

“This is something our members simply cannot accept,” she said.

“We do not understand the board negotiators’ unwillingness to resolve this issue,” she said. “We are not making unreasonable demands. We have made concessions. But we cannot ask our members to essentially take a pay cut in order to continue to pay their health care premiums, and that is exactly what the board is asking them to do.”

Board member Terry Schrock, the district’s spokesman and lead negotiator, said the full nine-member school board was present for negotiations Wednesday evening.

Schrock said the parties agreed on payments in the first year of a five-year agreement, but were half a percent apart in the second through fourth years and 1 percent apart in the fifth year.

The school board was in full agreement on its offer to the union, he said.

“We are unsure why the union is so intent on striking without even taking (our) offer to their membership for a vote when we are so close,” he said. “It’s up to (the) teachers’ union as to whether a strike can be averted.”

State law requires the union to give 48-hour notice of a strike, and how long a strike can last is limited. Teachers would have to return to classrooms so that 180 days of instruction are completed by June 15.

The state Department of Education will calculate how long a strike can last if one takes place.

Pujol said the union is available to talk with the district to avert the strike.

“Our members want nothing more than to continue working and being in their classrooms with their students,” she said. “The board must understand that this situation is entirely of their making.”