ADAMS TWP — The Mars School District will eliminate its custodial positions and subcontract those services if the Mars Area Education Support Professionals Association does not agree to the district's latest contract proposal.

Tom Breth, the district's negotiator in its stalemate with custodial, secretarial and paraprofessional employees, announced the ultimatum after the district provided the union with a revised school board proposal that he said significantly increased the school board's wage proposal for the support employees.

Breth said the board has been in negotiations with the 94-member support personnel union since January 2015 in the hopes of agreeing on a new contract. The previous contract expired on June 30, 2015.

When no contract was forthcoming after what Breth called “a tremendous number of negotiating sessions,” the school board in June 2016 advertised for bids to use a contractor for the support personnel positions in the district.

“Despite the tremendous savings available if the board decided to subcontract one or more of the classifications,” Breth said, “the board continued in good faith to negotiate with the association.”

Issues such as health care and wages continued to be a sticking point between the district and union, Breth said.

On the most recent negotiation session on July 5, Breth said the board provided the union with an improved proposal that included the increased wages for each employee.

“If the association does not accept the revised board proposal in its entirety, on or before Sept. 1, the board intends to initially move forward with the subcontracting of the custodians' classification,” Breth said.

The board will continue to negotiate with the union regarding the secretaries and paraprofessional, but has “reserved the right to subcontract in the future one or both classifications if an agreement cannot be reached by both parties,” Breth said.

In the revised proposal provided by Breth, all full-time secretaries, custodians, paraprofessionals and cafeteria employees hired before July 1, 2012, would receive a $1,000 bonus for the 2015-16 school year and another $1,000 for the 2016-17 school year.

Those employees would also receive a 50-cent raise in the upcoming school year and the 2018-19 school year, and a 35-cent increase in the 2019-20 school year.

Full-time employees hired after June 30, 2012, with the exception of cafeteria employees, would receive identical bonuses and increases.

Bonuses would be prorated for part-time employees, according to the revised proposal.

Various other changes were made in the revised proposal, including a supplemental wage of $1,500 for custodians who provide building checks, shift differential payments for custodians working the two evening shifts, the complete elimination of the “compensatory time off” and “early retirement incentive” articles in the proposal, a change from 188 to 181 working days per school year, and increased uniform purchases by the district.

Brooke Witt, the Pennsylvania State Education Association representative negotiating for the Mars Area Education Support Professionals Association, was not available for comment this week.

Several parents and teachers have advocated for the support employees since negotiations began, pleading with the school board not to contract out the positions.