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Bad checks earn Hazleton man jail time, decade of probation

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Wilkes-Barre union agrees to swap for MLK Day off, City Hall to close for holiday

<p>DALLAS TWP. &#8212; A Dallas teacher strike scheduled for Friday has been rescheduled to Sept. 5, the planned first day of school for the 2017-18 school year, according to a media release emailed by union president Mike Cherinka Wednesday.</p><p>The release says the union &#8220;provided the school district with a strike notice to commence Sept. 5, 2017. This strike notice reschedules Friday&#8217;s strike date of June 2, 2017.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;The school board scheduled multiple bargaining dates with us through the month of June,&#8221; Cherinka is quoted as saying in the release. &#8220;The teachers want to reach an agreement with the school board, and we will continue to bargain in good faith with them. But we need our school board to recognize the tremendous disparity Dallas teachers earn compared to that of other districts.&#8221;</p><p>The release claims it takes a Dallas teacher &#8220;well over a decade worth of classroom experience to earn the same salary of a first-year teacher in neighboring school districts.&#8221;</p><p>The release makes no mention of another potential reason not to strike June 2: It may not be legally possible.</p><p>State law allows teachers to strike twice in one school year. The first strike must end in time for students to complete 180 school days by June 15. A second strike must end in time to complete 180 days by June 30. The state Department of Education makes a determination as to when teachers must return to work to meet that requirement.</p><p>A dispute arose when Dallas teachers went on strike Nov. 14 last year and the state determined the return date to be Dec. 13. Claiming that determination was invalid because the district revised the school calendar, teachers remained on the picket line, returning Dec. 19.</p><p>District officials insisted that, while a calendar revision had been discussed during the strike, it was never voted on and thus had not been changed. Statements by the Department of Education generally supported that interpretation.</p><p>The law also requires the two sides to submit to non-binding arbitration between two strikes, and union lead negotiator John Holland argued that was also not necessary because of the change in the calendar.</p><p>When the board did vote to revise the 2016-17 calendar, it put the last day at June 30, leaving no room for even a single-day strike. Holland has said a strike could still be held. Ultimately, if the June 2 strike were held, the legality of it could have ended up in court.</p><p>By announcing the strike will not occur until Sept. 5, that legal issue may be moot, as the strike now would begin with the start of the new school year, at least for students.</p><p>The 2017-18 calendar sets Aug. 20-31 as teacher in-service days. Sept. 4 is Labor Day and thus a holiday, and the first day for students is set on Sept. 5.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Dallas teacher June 2 strike ‘rescheduled’ to Sept. 5