Knoch School District’s board said Wednesday, Jan. 14, it would sign off on a collective bargaining agreement, just over three months after originally announcing a fact finding agreement with the teachers union.

Before the announcement, members of the Knoch Education Association’s negotiation team and other teachers had expressed concerns and disappointment in the “continued delay” in finalizing the agreed upon language of the fact finding report.

Teachers said they received an email on Monday, Jan. 12 that retroactive pay would be issued to teachers on Jan. 30. But they also said there had been no other communication on the status of the agreement until the announcement Wednesday night.

Speakers at the Wednesday night board meeting and other teachers have said the holdup was over language regarding health care benefits.

“It’s especially troubling to see attempts to reinterpret language that is clearly written, presented and approved by the education association and the board,” Sarah Milford, a second grade teacher and member of the negotiating team, said at the board meeting.

Tom Breth, Knoch’s solicitor, said Wednesday night the school board decided to sign off on a contract after meeting before the meeting.

The four-year collective bargaining agreement is set to cover July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2029. Joseph C. Dimperio was the mediator.

Breth said during the meeting both parties that participated in the fact-finding process were successfully able to come to an agreement prepared by a third party. At the time, the school board released a statement saying it was pleased the teachers joined the board in approving the agreement, and that it “illustrates what can be accomplished when both sides are willing to make reasonable compromises to achieve a common goal.”

Breth said education association representatives took the lead in writing up the first draft of the collective bargaining agreement, to incorporate the fact finder’s report. When Breth received the report, he reviewed it and sent it to the board, and a discrepancy developed between the interpretation of language surrounding health care.

Breth said the board discussed it and proposed going back to the fact finder and ask what they meant in the language. He said this was offered to education association, and that it declined that offer.

Various teachers have said they feel there is very little room for any kind of interpretation in the agreement’s language.

“I discussed it with the board this evening, the board indicated to me that they were pleased with the fact finding report, and they didn’t want this dispute to hang up the contract, so they said ‘listen, we’ll compromise, tell them tomorrow the board’s willing to accept the fact finding report as they interpret it, and proceed to finalize the contract,’” Breth said.

Teachers have said they feel deflated and dejected, and that there had been a lack of transparency. Ian Babb, president of the education association, said Thursday teachers felt it was “very questionable” for the health care language to be brought up well after it was approved, and for the board to wait all the way through the holiday season without approving it.

Others said they feel the teachers have been disrespected. Previously, Knoch School District teachers went on strike in 2009 and 2018.

“As a friendly reminder, we’re showing up to teach every day, planning our lessons, grading assessments, following IEP and 504 accommodations, forging positive relationships with our students, and many of us lead extra curricular activities to further those students’ experiences,” said Lauren Lemmon Hoffman, a high school teacher on the negotiation team. “We deserve our retro pay, our raises, our health care as written.”