Back pay and benefits are on the way to seven Pleasant Valley School District employees who have been waiting since 2022.

Mark Fitzgerald, the solicitor for the school district, said in an interview last week that the school district will pay about $14,000 to seven people. Each will receive a portion of that total. The school district’s appeal of a Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board decision failed on June 14.

The seven support staff employees had been members of the support staff union called Pleasant Valley Education Support Professionals Association. Their pay and benefits in those positions were covered by the collective bargaining agreement approved by the school district and the support staff union.

The final order in June from the labor board stated, “The record shows that the (school) District furloughed a large amount of monitors and paraprofessionals, and then, rather than recall furloughed employees to bargaining unit positions for the next school year, it simply placed those positions on the ‘substitute’ list, and gave the furloughed employees the choice of working in that capacity making substantially less money without benefits, or not working at all.

“Indeed, the testimony of Union President (Tammy) Van Houwe confirmed that this had never been the case prior to the 2022-2023 school year, because whenever there was a vacancy in the past, the bargaining unit members would all pitch in to ‘absorb’ the work until the position was filled. Therefore, it is clear that the District classified these seven employees as ‘substitutes’ in a veiled attempt to improperly circumvent the provisions of the CBA (collective bargaining agreement or contract) in order to cut costs. Thus, the evidence unquestionably establishes direct dealing. The fact that this was accomplished by utilizing a computer portal without direct discussions or negotiations between the District and the individual employee is of no moment.”

The final order reinstated the decision handed down from of the labor relations board on Dec. 8, 2023, which required the school district to “immediately tender full back pay for lost wages and/or benefits to include out of pocket medical expenses and pension contributions, retroactive the first respective day of employment, less any 10-day agreement to the contrary, along with 6% per annum interest, to Kimberly Tinker, Kelly Chiumento, Joanne Mastronardi, Jessica Borger, Nikki Haden-Coar, Joan Mattson and Drita Beskovich.”

Van Houwe said the school district did send a proposed total amount and breakdown for each affected employee before the due date of July 19, but it was much lower than the amount the union calculated for the employees. The union waived the deadline to allow the school district to recalculate the amount.

“We waived the deadline to make sure the numbers are correct,” she said.

Van Houwe said she wishes they didn’t have to take the matter to the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board. The union tried to resolve it with the school district.

Fitzgerald said in the interview, “The school district did nothing wrong.”

According to the Proposed Decision and Order from the labor board on Dec. 8, 2023, the Pleasant Valley Education Support Professionals Association (the union representing the support staff who include non-management level paraprofessionals, secretaries, monitors, food service employees, custodial employees, maintenance technicians, bookkeepers, couriers, information systems technicians, student information data specialists and health room technicians) filed a charge of unfair practices with the labor board on Dec. 8, 2022, against the Pleasant Valley School District.

The support staff union said the school district violated two sections of the Public Employee Relations Act “by unilaterally charging the hourly pay rate for several bargaining unit employees beginning on Sept. 13, 2022, to rates which are inconsistent with the collective bargaining agreement and failing to provide those bargaining unit employees with benefits, as set forth in the agreement.”

The union also said that the district violated the Public Employee Relations Act because it negotiated directly with the employees new pay rates below the amounts stated in the contract with the union instead of negotiating with the union.

A Notice of Hearing was issued on March 2, 2023, with a hearing scheduled for April 5, 2023. After several requests from both parties for continuances, the hearing was held on July 17, 2023. The decision in favor of the support staff union was handed down in December.

The school district had 20 days to file an appeal. The district did so on Dec. 28, 2023.

Fitzgerald said the decision to appeal was made “by the district,” but would not name who made the decision.

He said the school board was made aware to the decision to appeal. The last public meeting was on Dec. 7 — one day before the order from the labor relations board.

Had the school district not filed the appeal, the order required the school district to post a copy of the decision within five days from it being made effective “in a conspicuous place, readily accessible to its employee” for 10 consecutive days.

When the decision regarding the appeal was delivered on June 18, 2024, that same requirement to post it in a conspicuous place accessible to the employees was required. The last day of school was on May 30.

“I’m glad it’s over. I’m glad it can be fixed,” Van Houwe said. “You have to care of the little guys.”