BUTLER TWP — Teachers at the Butler County Area Vocational-Technical School want the joint operating committee to reach a new contract.

The 22 teachers have been without a contract since July 2014, according to Jeff Celender, president of the Butler County Area Vocational-Technical School Educational Association. That means they have gone 647 days without a contract, he said.

Celender and others talked about the need for a contract Thursday night at the joint committee meeting.

The points of contention are the wages and health insurance plans, but Celender was tight-lipped on specifics. He said the health care deductible is increasing, but he could not immediately give the cost under the previous contract.

Currently, the average salary for a vo-tech teacher is $47,800, according to Tom Breth, solicitor for the vo-tech.

However, the starting salary is $30,000, according to LuAnn Byrnes, a former member of the Butler School Board and the joint operating committee. Byrnes said that this is a huge decrease from the starting salary for teachers at the Mercer County Career Center, which gives $46,700 to starting teachers.

Byrnes is a counselor in the South Butler School District.

Celender told the board that just as the vo-tech teachers are committed to their students, they are committed to their families and that a lack of a contract can make life much more difficult for those families.

“We are fully invested in the success of our students, our school, our colleagues,” he said.

“It is widely known in our profession that for every hour that we work as instructional time, it takes two hours of prep time for us. As educators, we accept the many extra hours that the school day has to offer.”

Katie Collins, a pastry arts teacher, also spoke to the committee, stressing the teachers’ role is not just in the school, but the community at large.

“I am proud to work at the vocation school here because I think we offer an incredible opportunity for nontraditional students in our school districts,” she said.

“(We) give 100 percent to our students, our employer and our community. We are a community that services seven school districts and provides a program that students wouldn’t have access to in their home schools,” she said.

“We are professionals in every aspect of what we do and deserve the respect of the members of the board, the JOC, in joining with us in negotiating a fair contract for us all.”

The teachers’ union previously rejected an agreement offered by the committee in August 2015. The committee had approved that four-year agreement which had no raises to salary or health care for the first year.

Byrnes stressed that the vo-tech can create successful, confident students, even for students who previously had no interest in education. She also said that a lack of a contract, even without meaning to, can make teachers feel unimportant.

“Your mission was, and is, to support the vo-tech,” Byrnes said. “You don’t make it stronger by devaluing the staff.”

Celender said that morale definitely can be affected when teachers have been without a contract for two years.

“Anytime negotiations last a long time, there’s going to be frustration that sweeps through the ranks,” he said, adding that everyone has been professional throughout the process. “We’ll get through this.”

Byrnes said if the committee members working on the contracts cannot come to a compromise, committee Chairman John Conrad should consider delegating the job to other members. Conrad is a representative from the Butler School District.

Conrad works on the contracts along with Josh Price from Karns City, James Nickel from Seneca Valley and Bill Halle from Butler, Conrad said.

“Contracts aren’t settled with threats, intimidation or lack of respect,” she said. “Contracts are settled with hard work, time, effort, mutual respect and commitment ... In silence, there is acceptance.”

The teachers are working under the terms of the expired contract.

Committee members did not respond to teachers’ comments about the contract.

The committee has 12 members from the school’s seven districts: Butler, Karns City, Mars, Moniteau, Seneca Valley, Slippery Rock and South Butler.