Mar 22, 2017 By Cara Host 2 min read

Bethel Park School Board signed a new five-year contract March 21 with the labor union representing custodians and maintenance workers, marking the second new contract that the district negotiated this year.

The school district and its teachers’ union signed a new five-year pact in January.

Bethel Park Custodial and Maintenance Educational Support Personnel Association represents 35 custodians and four maintenance workers. The new contract will give those workers average raises of 2.7 percent.

Full-time workers will also contribute more for their health insurance coverage over the course of the contract. Workers earning between $30,000 and $44,999 a year will pay 3 percent of the monthly premium initially and that will rise to 3.5 percent starting with the 2018-19 school year. Those earning over $45,000 a year will contribute 6.5 percent this year, seven percent next year and 7.5 percent starting in the 2018-19 school year.

The new contract is retroactive to June 2016, when the previous pact expired, and it will be effective until June 2021.

Board President Donna Cook said the custodians and maintenance workers have a “behind-the-scenes job,” but the fruits of their labor — well-maintained and clean buildings and grounds –give visitors a strong first impression of the school.

“I thank them for the outstanding job they do day-in and day-out,” she said.

The board also discussed the possible purchase of new reading books for children in kindergarten through second grade. A final decision will likely be made at the April 25 regular meeting.

The board purchased McGraw-Hill’s Wonders program for third and fourth grades last year and a limited number of teachers are piloting the program in the lower grades this year.

Those teachers praised the program at the school board’s committee meeting, saying Wonders introduces more vocabulary words and would help establish consistency in teaching students of various reading levels. The program features books written on the same topic, but at various reading levels, so that strong and weaker readers can read at appropriate levels and still have class discussions.

Superintendent Joseph Pasquerlla recommended purchasing the program for the first and second grades but was more guarded about the program for kindergarten. He said some teachers privately expressed reservations about abandoning the current curriculum that prepares students quite well in the district’s half-day kindergarten program.

Cost for the K-3 program is just under $200,000 and the price without books for kindergarten will be about $185,000.