NHSD Teachers Agree to Take on More Duties, Health Insurance Costs

and its 331 teachers reached a new three-year contract Tuesday.

The district’s board of directors approved the agreement with a 7-0 vote after the North Hills Education Association members ratified the agreement in a 195-48 vote on July 27.

Lasting until August 2014, the new contract goes into effect August 24 following the expiration of the current six-year deal.

In the contract, both sides compromised and considered the challenging and uncertain economic climate, said Doug Sundo, union president.

“It is a fair contract in the times we are in," he said. "As teachers we understood we needed to help in any way we could.”

Teacher salaries on average will increase 2.93 percent each year. Salaries for around 120 teachers in the top step of the district’s pay scale will be frozen for the first year of the contract and increased by 1 percent in each of the final two years, according to a district press release.

Health insurance costs increased for North Hills an average of 1.5 percent yearly over the past five years, Wielgus said.

To combat these increases, monthly premium contributions by teachers will increase by 35 percent throughout the contract and the standard health insurance will be switched to an HMO plan. Teachers may opt to enroll in a PPO plan but must pay the difference between premium contributions. These changes will save North Hills a projected $1 million in health insurance costs, district officials said.

A $725,000 savings also will be acquired from teachers assuming additional duties performed in the past by five part-time teacher assistants, such as hallway monitoring and lunch room supervision. Teachers are also taking on some Online Academy tasks with no extra pay -- a change from previous practice. 

The new contract also eliminated early-dismissal days from the 2011-12 school year.

The concessions indicate that North Hills teachers understand the challenges facing public education from funding cuts to cyber schools and the importance of a fair contract, board President Ed Wielgus said.

“I really believe our teachers get it. Both sides I’m sure wanted more," he said. "We knew and our teachers knew we had some tough hills to climb, and we came together.”

District administrators and union representatives negotiated the contract during 20 bargaining sessions without the assistance of an outside negotiator or Pennsylvania State Education Association representation, as is common in some Allegheny County school contract talks. 

School directors Tim Burnett and Robert Barto were absent from Tuesday’s meeting.