DALLAS TWP. — A pending strike has been rescheduled by the Dallas Education Association — again.
Minutes before the Dallas School Board meeting began Monday, an automated text from the district informed families a strike set for this Friday, April 13 has been postponed to May 18.
The strike date rescheduling is to give the school board time to think about a previous discussion on healthcare from the March 21 meeting, union president Michael Cherinka said in a phone call.
“We had a healthy discussion on health care,” Cherinka said about the last negotiation meeting. “Hopefully, they gave it some thought.”
Dallas School District attorney Vito DeLuca said the school board stands by its previous offer that contains three healthcare packages, which include a free healthcare plan as well as two cost-sharing plans.
“The union rejected it,” DeLuca said, noting the board will honor the proposal until the end of the month. “The union has not given us a single offer we could afford; it is like they are ignoring the economic situation at Dallas.”
If the union does strike, it would be for one day, DeLuca said.
Under state law, teachers are allowed to strike twice in a school year, as long as the first strike ends in time to complete 180 student-instructional days by June 15. A second strike must end in time to complete 180 days by June 30.
The union went on strike in September 2017 for seven days.
Dallas School District teachers have been working without a contract since August 2015. The board and union started negotiating a new deal in 2014.
Other news
• A moment of silence was held at the start of the school board meeting in memory of Anna Jorda, a 16-year-old student who died unexpectedly April 6.
“We as a district spent the weekend and today supporting one another, communicating and putting supports in place for our faculty, staff, and students,” said Dallas School District Superintendent Thomas Duffy.
District stakeholders, faculty, staff and students will wear yellow ribbons to “increase awareness globally of the tragedies that sometimes find their way into students’ lives,” Duffy said.
• Contractor bids, totaling $16.8 million, for the planned Dallas Intermediate School, were unanimously approved Monday.
The bids are another stepping stone toward the construction of a nearly 62,000-square-foot school to house third, fourth and fifth grades.
The new building will be located on Conyngham Avenuenext to Wycallis Elementary where the Cleary soccer field is located in Dallas Township.
Randy Galiotto, project architect from Alloy 5, said bids received were varied and averaged about 10 percent less than the project estimation.
Lobar Inc. of Dillsburg, was awarded the general construction contract with a bid of $11,829,400. Three requests were received, and Lobar Inc. was the lowest, Galiotto said.
Pennsylvania Mechanical Systems Company, of Kingston, received the heating/air conditioning systems contract with a bid of $1,968,438. Nine proposals were received ranging from $1.9 to $3 million, Galiotto said.
G.R. Noto Electrical Construction, of South Abington Township, was awarded the electrical contract with a bid of $1,792,000. Galiotto said there were seven bids received ranging from $1.7 to $2.2 million.
JBM Mechanical Inc. was awarded the plumbing contract with a bid of $1,156,000.
The environmental abatement contract was award to Prism Response with a bid of $55,929.
United Inspection Services received the contract for construction testing services with a bid not to exceed $100,000.
Construction is expected to start in late April and be completed for the 2019-2020 school year.
