Tentative accord reached on Pa. teacher contract

March 07, 1997

By RICHARD BELISLE

Staff Writer

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Teachers in the Chambersburg Area Education Association may have a new contract for the first time this school year if they ratify a tentative agreement reached early Friday morning between the teachers' and the school board's bargaining committee.

Teachers were to learn details of the agreement - reached at 12:45 a.m. - Friday night.

Neither Schools Superintendent Edwin Sponseller nor Chris Scritchfield, president of the 428-member Chambersburg Area Education Association, would say what was in the agreement. It would cover a new, three-year contract.

The teachers have been working without a contract since June 30, 1996. They have not had a raise in that time, Scritchfield said.

Scritchfield said teachers will not vote on the agreement until late March or early April. The association's attorney must first approve the agreement, she said.

Sponseller said there are 506 teachers in the system including head teachers and department chairs.

Salaries under the last contract ranged from $28,250 for beginning teachers with a bachelor's degree up to $52,885 for teachers with doctorates who are at the top of the scale. Scritchfield said an average teacher salary in the system is about $40,000.

Teachers in Chambersburg last went on strike in 1980, Scritchfield said.

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