Teachers

The membership of the Chambersburg Area Education Association met with union leadership for nearly two hours Wednesday night, but only to discuss its recent lack of progress in securing a new teachers contract. After fielding individual teachers' questions for about 45 minutes after the meeting closed, CAEA President Dave Snyder said the meeting was to "update the membership to give them a feel for what we've done so far; what the proposals were. " "That's basically all we're going to release," Snyder said.

Ongoing teacher negotiations in the Waynesboro Area School District now involve a retired schools superintendent acting as mediator. The teachers' union, Waynesboro Area Education Association, met with former Fairfield (Pa.) Area School District Superintendent Gary Miller on Thursday and Friday, according to its spokesman. The school board met with Miller briefly late last week and has another session scheduled for Tuesday, board member Chris Lind said. Scheduling issues prevented a meeting Saturday as initially discussed, Lind said Sunday.

Several residents of Hagerstown's West End said they thought they were being visited by Publishers Clearing House on Friday afternoon. When they answered a knock at the door, strangers were standing on the front porch and cameras were clicked in their surprised faces. They quickly realized the visitors were their children's teachers and members of the media tagging along to cover the Back to School Blitz. Tom Garner, principal of Salem Avenue Elementary School, said the blitz involved about 65 teachers who hit the streets Friday to introduce themselves to their students for the upcoming academic year.

I remember one time when I was in sixth grade at the old Dargan School, I had a major role in a school program. I decided to play hooky on that day because I had not remembered my lines, so I told my grandmother I was sick.  She told me to stay in bed. It wasn't too long after our conversation that there was a knock at the door. Principal Middlecamp had come down to my house to tell my grandmother that I had a major part in the school program and I was needed at school. The rest of the story is history.

Monday's round of negotiations between the Waynesboro Area School Board and the district's teachers union failed to produce a contract agreement. The union's president, Mike Engle, blamed the school board, saying its negotiating team threw a wrench into discussions involving a matter already separately headed to arbitration. The school board's representative said the union brought up the matter; his side thought it was moot. At issue is whether teachers who furthered their own education should have “column” movement on the pay scale for 2010-11 and 2011-12, the two years the district has been without a contract.

Student performance on standardized tests will continue to be incorporated into Waynesboro Area School District teacher evaluations as the district eyes changed state requirements. At Tuesday's school board meeting, Assistant Superintendent Wendy Royer explained how the 2012-13 evaluations will be conducted in all Waynesboro schools. She said the newer evaluations mirror work already started locally. Waynesboro Area School District has been participating in a pilot program for the evaluations as part of $37,500 received in Race to the Top funding, Royer said.

The Washington County Board of Education honored five teachers Tuesday who most recently received National Board Certification. Those teachers were Kris Pearl of Emma K. Doub Elementary, Lori Ridgely of Western Heights Middle, Alicia Robertson of Smithsburg High, Jena Staley of Northern Middle and Mary Ward of Clear Spring Middle.

Washington County Teachers Association President Claude Sasse announced at Tuesday's Washington County Board of Education meeting that the annual March on Annapolis, which calls on education supporters to ask for legislative support of school funding, will be held Jan. 26.

pepperb@herald-mail.com WASHINGTON COUNTY - Four elementary school teachers told the Washington County Board of Education at Tuesday's meeting that they can use their time wisely, but don't have enough of it. Reading from a list of job duties, Paramount Elementary School teacher Jodi Spickler told the School Board that in addition to meeting new requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind act, teachers must teach their students, but...

Pa. teachers reject contract By DAVE McMILLION / Staff Writer MERCERSBURG, Pa. - For the second time, the Tuscarora Educational Association has rejected a contract proposal that would have awarded smaller pay raises than teachers are seeking. The rejection of a Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board's fact-finder's recommendation sends the teachers' organization and the Tuscarora School Board back to the bargaining table, William Konzal, superintendent of the Tuscarora School District, said Friday night.