The Karns City Area School District Board of Education voted to follow a fact-finder's report regarding contract negotiations with its support staff at a special Zoom meeting Thursday night.

The district will follow recommendations made by the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board in a fact-finding report conducted in January, which the Karns City Area Educational Support Personnel Association requested after contract negotiations came to an impasse. The board now awaits the personnel association's response to the report, whether it agrees to the terms or requires further action.

Eric Ritzert, superintendent of Karns City Area School District, said the district began contract talks with the association in January 2020, but the coronavirus pandemic slowed negotiations because of financial uncertainty and predicted budget challenges. Support staff members have now been working without a contract since July.

“The previous five-year contract ended, and we're hoping to get that extended,” Ritzert said before the meeting took place. “Normally they try to get it done before the last one ends, but the coronavirus slowed us down with that.”

The report by the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board reviewed information provided by the district and the association, and made recommendations based on its findings.

Aside from recommending the adoption of a five-year contract agreement to run from July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2025, the board recommended a 2.9 percent pay increase each year of the contract for custodial, maintenance, paraprofessional and secretary personnel hired before July 1, 1990, which is listed as group A.1. It recommended the same raise rate for building custodians, cafeteria personnel, clerks, custodians, food coordinators, maintenance workers, noontime supervisors, nurse technicians, paraprofessionals and secretaries hired between July 1, 1990 and June 30, 2010, listed as group A.2.

The labor board also recommended a 25 cent pay bump to group A.3, or support staff hired on or after July 1, 2010, and also recommended a $250 lump sum payment to full-time employees and a $150 lump sum payment to part-time employees in the group. The school board accepted all these terms.

According to the report, the support staff contract expired at the end of June, and the association was not amenable to a three-year contract term because the staff members have continued working without a contract since July.

The support personnel association had asked for a 3% pay increase per year for all employees, while the school district argued for a 2% annual pay raise for groups A.1 and A.2, and no increase in the annual pay raise for A.3 employees because the group enjoys a 3.15% to 4.19% pay increase for every year worked.