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Two Pennsylvania State Education Association staff members were arrested Wednesday for trespassing on HACC’s Lancaster campus. The union employees, who had set up a table with information supporting HACC’s unionized faculty members, refused to leave when asked by campus security. East Lampeter Township police were called to remove them. “We have every right to be on campuses talking to faculty,” said Kathy Sicher, president of HACCEA, the union representing faculty. “We’re part of the campus, whether HACC likes it or not, we’re part of HACC.” The representatives – Lauri Lebo Rakoff, region advocacy coordinator, and Adam Weber, union representative –...

After publication, Dave White's campaign manager, Bob Salera, reached out to explain that Long, Nyquist and Associates dropped the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA) as a client, at White's request. That was effective as of January 1, 2022. It is also no longer listed on the Long, Nyquist and Associates client page. Salera also reiterated White's commitment to school choice. White entered the race in November. Original Post: Critical Race Theory (CRT) proved to be a major issue in the Virginia statewide races last year. This may turn out to be a pattern for the rest of the country, including...

The union representing Pennsylvania’s teachers is urging the state’s K-12 schools to require students and staff to wear masks. The Pennsylvania State Education Association said masking is a key step to ensuring students can go to school in person all year long. The question of mask requirements in schools has emerged as a volatile topic nationwide, even as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have spiked dramatically in recent weeks. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends students wear masks in school, regardless of their vaccination status, but it is not a requirement. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has said repeatedly...

We've come full circle on school discipline: Now students beat the teacher. "City teachers pleaded with district administrators Monday to help support them as they deal with what they are calling an unprecedented level of misbehavior among children, some of which is resulting in physical violence against teachers," Felix Rodriguez Lima reported on Fox 43 from Harrisburg, Pa. on November 21, 2017. "The Harrisburg Education Association says the behavioral issues have prompted the resignations of at least 45 teachers between July and October, and further resignations have since occurred, according to association president Jody Barksdale." "Some of the worst behavior...

FULL TITLE: Teacher Protests Union’s Planned Parenthood Donations, Fights for Ability to Donate to Pro-Life Charity A Pennsylvania teacher is suing the state’s largest teachers union, the Pennsylvania State Education Association, for preventing her from donating her nonmember fees to a pro-life charity. In an interview with The Daily Signal, Linda Misja, a teacher at Apollo-Ridge High School, said she has never paid for representation by the union, which she does not want. She said joining the union would violate her religious beliefs. Misja, a devout Catholic, objects to the union’s decision to donate to Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest...

Two teachers have taken Pennsylvania’s largest teachers union to court over its attempt to decide which charities may be supported by teachers as an alternative when they decline to join the union on religious grounds. The teachers, Chris Meier from Lancaster County and Jane Ladley from Chester County, are required—as a condition of employment—either to be a member of the Pennsylvania State Education Association or pay a nonmember “fair share” fee of $435. Last spring, PSEA accepted Meier and Ladley’s status as religious objectors. In lieu of paying membership dues, state law instructed the teachers to pay a “fair share”...

Federal agents served a search warrant on Thursday at the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School in Midland, the largest cyber school in the state with more than 11,000 students. The Department of Justice would not say what agents with the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Education were seeking there or at least three other locations where warrants were served. In a statement, the Justice Department said the Beaver County school, founded in 2000, “is not a current target of this investigation.” Founder Nick Trombetta, 57, could not be reached for comment. On June 30, he stepped down...

Pennsylvania earned a "D" for policies to promote teacher quality, according to a report card released by a national advocacy group on Friday. Most states did as badly or worse in the report by the National Council on Teacher Quality, which advocates for tougher teacher evaluations and more rigorous teacher preparation. Michael Race, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Education, noted that Pennsylvania had fared slightly better than the national average, but "both sets of grades show room for improvement." Race said that many of the report's criticisms were addressed in the state's application for Race to the Top,...

The family of a Knoch High School golfer wants the school to fire its golf coach because they say he threatened their son on the team bus. South Butler County School District spokesman Vic Morrone said Wednesday the district suspended coach Rob Voltz while investigating the Sept. 18 incident and allowed him to return Monday. Morrone said district officials interviewed everyone who rode the bus. "Based on our investigation, not only did the coach apologize to the student, but the student apologized to the coach as soon as they got off the bus. We thought the matter was resolved until...

The Thomas More Law Center, representing the Dover Area School District in the federal trial over intelligent design, indirectly made two campaign contributions to political opposition group Dover CARES for a total of $120. Sandi Bowser, president of the teachers union signed over two witness checks....

PLAINS TWP. (PA) – Crestwood teachers filed a strike notice Thursday night and said the district offered them a “trash” proposal that insists they pay a portion of health-care premiums. Teachers will go on strike after next week if a settlement is not reached by Sept. 23 in the three-year contract dispute. No other negotiation sessions are planned before then. Board member Gene Mancini Jr. said the district will not budge in requiring teachers to pay a portion of health care premiums in any new contract. “First and foremost, the public demands it,” he said. “The public pays for it.”...

Without public comment or debate the Crestwood School Board unanimously voted for a motion that will keep its teaching staff. About 100 residents and teachers crammed into the district's sweltering high school library for a vote that stopped the board from scrambling to fill 183 teaching positions by August. "It was a pretty smooth meeting," said Bill Jones, board president. "I think both sides were happy." A June 14 letter from the union started the vote. The letter saying union members would be "unwilling to work" the new school year without a new contract. The board responded, calling the letter...

An education historian takes a look at a dispute in a Luzerne County school district. “The consequences of the unions taking a really strong ‘we’re not budging’ attitude led to this series of very, very Draconian laws.” Jeffrey Mirel Professor of education studies and history at the University of Michigan Crestwood School Board in Pennsylvania may have avoided losing all its teachers with a single vote, but a different Crestwood, in Michigan, wasn’t so lucky. And an education historian warned that what happened in the Wolverine state could still happen here. It was, he said, a disaster for both sides....

Board to vote on whether to accept rescinded letter today, solicitor says Crestwood teacher negotiations Board to vote on whether to accept rescinded letter today, solicitor says Union president says letter was misconstrued to imply mass resignation. WRIGHT TWP. (PA) – The president of the Crestwood Education Association hand delivered a written statement to Superintendent Richard Duffy’s home late Monday night rescinding a June 14 letter in which he said teachers would be “unwilling to work” if a new contract isn’t inked prior to the start of the 2005-2006 school year. The most recent letter, like the first, was penned...

“I want to make it perfectly clear that no member of the Crestwood Education Association has resigned from their position.” John Holland Pennsylvania State Education Association Northeast Region representative WRIGHT TWP. – A teachers union official has penned a letter denying that any Crestwood teachers have resigned, but the school board president and solicitor aren’t buying it, sticking to their argument that an earlier letter signaled a mass resignation in the midst of bitter contract dispute. Pennsylvania State Education Association Northeast Region Representative John Holland sent a letter Friday to school board Solicitor Jack Dean saying “I want to make...

WRIGHT TWP. – Crestwood School District officials said they consider a recent letter from the teachers union a “mass resignation” and plan to vote June 28 to hire replacement teachers for this fall if the contact isn’t settled. Union President Joseph Chmiola Jr. sent a letter to the school district on Tuesday saying that without a new contract, “we will be unwilling to work the 2005-2006 school year.” Negotiator John Holland of the Pennsylvania State Education Association said Thursday that the intent of the June 14 letter was to tell the school district that if there’s no new contract, the...

The union representative is angry about publication of salary, reimbursements and sick days amid contract talks. WRIGHT TWP. - Every Crestwood teacher's salary, tuition reimbursements and related pay hikes, plus accrued sick days will soon debut on the school district's Web site. School board member Gene Mancini Jr. said it's a way to inform the public as contract negotiations continue, but union representative John Holland called the move "offensive and irresponsible." "It's the public's right to know," said Mancini, who serves on the contract negotiation team. He said the board held a public session in November and next week's planned...

When the American Federation of Teachers first unionized in 1916 to fight for better working conditions, a group of Scranton educators played a founding role. Teachers in Chicago laid the foundation for the national group and were bolstered by colleagues in Scranton, New York City, Washington, D.C. and Gary, Ind. Eighty-eight years later, Northeastern Pennsylvania is again at the forefront of labor unrest in education. But the AFT has slipped into the background. Striking Abington Heights and Old Forge teachers are part of the National Education Association, a 147-year-old organization that didn't advocate strikes until the late 1960s. "The Federation...

Schools bracing to meet budgetsLocal districts facing tax anticipation notes as state Legislature dallies.By BRETT MARCYbmarcy@leader.net HARRISBURG - With chances for a state budget agreement before Thanksgiving fading, some local school districts find themselves with little choice but to borrow money - leaving their taxpayers to pick up the tab. The state Legislature's failure to pass an education budget has left Pennsylvania's 501 school districts scrambling to pay their bills, with many that have dipped into reserve funds taking out loans to survive. Northwest Area School District has held off taking out a loan since the budget impasse began in...

Pennsylvania ranks 34th in literacy according to Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System yet 7th in average teacher's salaries (2000-2001.) It is one of the few states in which school boards cannot fire teachers who strike. Should school boards be allowed to fire teachers who strike?