HARRISBURG - The Harrisburg Education Association, which represents teachers and school employees in the city's school district, has authorized a strike, Jody Barksdale, the union's president, told FOX43 Monday night.
"Obviously that's the last thing we want to do, but we have the authority to do it if we need to do it," Barksdale said.
The last time both sides negotiated was April 27th, and further negotiating sessions with the Harrisburg School District are scheduled for May 20th, 23rd and the 24th, she said. Those dates are a little more than a week prior to the last day of school on June 2nd.
(Editor's note: The HEA has to abide by specific rules before it can legally strike under Pennsylvania Act 88, which you can read here.)
That came after a contentious meeting where hundreds of union members demanded a new contract from the district as it was hearing about an amended recovery plan. The employees have been working without a contract for more than 1,400 days.
"What's best for our children is not having teachers on welfare," one teacher told the school board Monday night.
"Every single one of these teachers in here deserves what they deserve and they're not getting what they deserve," a student at Marshall Math & Science Academy named Majesty said.
School district officials acknowledged the high turnover rate in the city's schools.
"There's a growing sense among school board members that we need to pay teachers what they deserve," Alan Kennedy-Shaffer, a school board member, said.
The HEA says more than 400 employees have left the district in the past four years.
"We come here early, we stay late," one teacher said. "We don't ask for extra things; we're working with less resources to do more, and you come in here and try to attack us? That's wrong!"
There was little outcry over the recovery plan itself, but there was concern that it could impact negotiations.
"We all have the same goals in mind, but unfortunately we all face the reality that the needs may be more than the dollars," Dr. Audrey Utley, the school district's chief recovery officer, said.
Utley attempted to rush public comment along, saying the board had other business to handle, but after an hour, Utley adjourned the meeting.
"I apologize, but I know that the media, we promised them a 6:30 and they have a time schedule, and we'd like to make it work," she said, to a chorus of boos and questions. (Editor's note: FOX43 was not the recipient of such a promise.)
Utley is hoping for approval of the plan at the board's regularly-scheduled meeting on Monday, May 16, but Kennedy-Shaffer told FOX43 he plans to move to table the discussion at that point.