KCSD Board, teacher’s union enter ‘fact-finding’ process as part of contract talks
By P.J. D’Annunzio, Staff Writer, KennettTimes.com
KENNETT SQUARE – Unable to reach a deal on a new contract, the Kennett Consolidated School District and its teachers union will turn to a outside fact-finder to propose terms of a possible settlement for a new deal.
The existing contract between the district and the Kennett Education Association, which represents the roughly 314 teachers in the district, is scheduled to expire on June 30, 2012. Negotiations between the parties began in January and more recently have been under the direction of a state mediator, Richard Stober, but there appears to have been little progress toward a deal.
After reviewing its options, the KCSD board has elected to exercise an impasse resolution mechanism provided for under Act 88 of 1992 called fact-finding. Under Act 88 of 1992, fact finding is an option for both sides to pursue when negotiations are at an impasse. As part of the process, a neutral, third party called a fact-finder is assigned by the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board (PLRB) to examine both of the proposals on the table and make recommendations based upon those proposals.
On April 10, the PLRB appointed Diana S. Mulligan of Reading, to be the fact-finder who will consider the Kennett Consolidated School District and union’s proposals.
During the fact-finding process, Mulligan will hear presentations from both the district and union and then make her own proposal for settlement. The state will pay half of the cost of the fact finder, with the remaining half to be divided equally between the KEA and the district.
Within five days of the appointment of the fact-finder, both parties will submit their issues in writing for her review. Mulligan will then conduct a private evidentiary hearing or hearings taking into account demographic information about the district, as well as testimony and justifications on all of the outstanding issues.
Mulligan will be required to issue her recommendation in writing within 40 calendar days of April 10. According to the district’s calculations, the fact-finder would be required to issue her recommendation in writing on May 21. The recommendation will be issued, at first, privately to both the district and the union. The school board and union rank-and-file will then have 10 days to vote on whether to accept the fact finder’s proposal in its entirety.
If, both the board and the union agree to Mulligan’s recommendation, a contract would be reached. If either party disagrees, the PLRB will then authorize the publishing of the fact finder’s recommendation, releasing it to the local news media for public disclosure. The parties will then have another 10-day opportunity after the public has been informed about the recommendation to vote again on the package.
Mulligan’s proposal will not be binding unless both parties accept the report. If both parties or one party rejects the fact finder’s recommendation after both consideration periods, the two sides will have to continue contract talks.
Neighboring Unionville went though this process in 2010-11, when the teachers’ union sought a fact-finding. Fact-finder Mariann E. Schick crafted a proposal that the Unionville-Chadds Ford School Board voted to accept, but was rejected by the teachers’ union. Talks continued deep into the summer of 2011 before a deal was reached just before the start of the 2011-12 school year. Unionville’s teachers went more than a year without a contract.
