McGuffey teachers are picketing this morning at McGuffey High School and Middle School, Joe Walker Elementary, Claysville Elementary and union headquarters, the Buffalo Township Municipal Building.

The union and school board have been negotiating for more than a year to reach a contract. The union voted last week to strike if an agreement could not be reached. Both sides met with a mediator for more than five hours Friday night, but could not reach a deal.

The strike will last two days; Classes will resume Wednesday.

Find out more in Tuesday's Observer-Reporter.

Mum's the word at McGuffey

McGuffey School Board President Joyce Knestrick wouldn’t say whether school activities will be canceled next week if teachers strike.
“No comment at this time,” she said when asked about the activities after Thursday’s school board meeting.
The union announced earlier this week that members voted to authorize a strike Monday if it cannot reach an agreement with the board about its contract.
Representatives from both sides will meet with a mediator tonight to try and resolve the remaining issues.
“We’re optimistic, hopeful,” said Andrew MacBeth, a spokesman for the McGuffey union. “It’s a great sign that we have a mediator involved. Maybe they can help us find common ground.”
Knestrick and school board member Doug Teagarden said before the school board meeting they are also hoping the differences can be resolved.
“We are always willing to talk,” Teagarden said.
The two sides have been negotiating for more than a year. At the board’s request, the teachers agreed to bring in a state fact-finder in November. Teachers approved the fact-finder’s recommendations in December, even though it didn’t contain everything they wanted because they wanted the negotiations resolved, MacBeth said.
The board rejected the recommendations, saying the district could not afford the financial obligations imposed by them.
The report by fact-finder Matthew M. Franckiewicz called for starting teachers to get a $1,075 increase this year to $34,096. It calls for the maximum salary to be $73,942 this year, an increase of $960. It calls for the starting salary to be $41,789 in 2013-14, the last year of the contract. That year, it calls for the maximum salary to be $79,243.
The fact-finder’s report also calls for the monthly health insurance premiums to stay the same this year and next year at a cost of $15 per month for single coverage and $30 for any other coverage. It would jump to $20 and $40, respectively, for the next two years of the contract and to $25 and $50 for the last year of the contract.
After rejecting the fact-finder’s report, the board made another offer to the union that included an average 3.5 percent salary increase and requested increased contributions for health care costs and a few additional minutes daily to educate students and train staff, Benjamin Pratt, an attorney working for the board on negotiations, said in a news release.
Teagarden said the board wanted the teachers to pay half the cost of health insurance increases over the life of the contract.
Teachers rejected that offer and offered the fact-finder’s report as a counter-proposal, he said.
MacBeth said the union is trying to come to a fair agreement that teachers can live with and the district can afford.
The board did not discuss the strike or negotiations publicly during Thursday night’s meeting, except to answer questions from a resident about whether the board rejected the fact-finder’s report.
However, the board did discuss the contract negotiations during an 80-minute executive session.

McGuffey teachers will strike Monday

McGuffey School District teachers will strike Monday because an agreement on a new contract cannot be reached with the school board.
The two sides have been bargaining for more than a year, efforts that included bringing in an independent fact-finder to make recommendations for a new contract.
The board unanimously voted against the fact-finder’s report twice while the teachers voted for it both times.
“This is the last thing we want to do, but the school board has left us with no other options,” said Andrew MacBeth, spokesman for the McGuffey union.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education will determine how long the teachers can strike, but the district must complete 180 days of instruction by June 30, said spokeswoman Leah Harris. The department will also determine how many days they can strike to complete school by June 15, after which the sides can begin non-binding arbitration, Harris said.
The last student day, as of Tuesday, is June 11.
MacBeth said the board has not been bargaining in good faith.
“They’ve said no at every turn to things that could resolve this dispute,” MacBeth said, adding the union is trying to come to a fair agreement that teachers can live with and the district can afford. He said the total payroll in the fact-finder’s recommendation would have been less than it was last year.
Doug Teagarden, a school board member who is on the negotiating team, said the board has negotiated in good faith. He said all contracts come down to money and benefits and the board’s most recent proposal called for teachers to split the increased costs of health insurance in each year of the contract.
Union representatives told the board negotiating team last week that offer wouldn’t be accepted, Teagarden said.
The union’s counterproposal was the fact-finder’s report. Teagarden said he would take that back to the board if the union wanted, but he suspected the vote would remain the same.
“We said ‘Come back at us with a proposal and we’ll take a look at it’,” he said.
That meeting was an open discussion, Teagarden said. He said the board is still willing to talk and that he has no animosity toward the teachers.
“I’m not sure that striking is going to get us where we need to go,” he said. “I just hope it doesn’t adversely affect the kids.”
MacBeth said the teachers waited until Monday to strike because seniors have graduation projects to present Friday. Teachers didn’t want to stop that from happening as planned, he said.
Teagarden said the union published a full-page advertisement in the Observer-Reporter and sent postcards to residents, asking them to call board members about the contract negotiations.
Teagarden said he received about 10 calls. Only one caller asked him to give in, while the rest told him to stay the course, he said.
MacBeth said many people in the McGuffey community have voiced their support for teachers over the past several months.
“We are very grateful for the community’s support,” he said. “When so many people want this contract resolved, I just don’t understand why the school board won’t work with us.”