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<p>DALLAS TWP. &#8212; Clarke Bittner wants the Dallas Education Association to replace attorney John Holland and Michael Cherinka from their union leadership roles, hoping that will get contract negotiations moving forward.</p><p>&#8220;You as a group should get together as a group and kick his (expletive) back to Harrisburg,&#8221; Bittner, a former school board member said of Holland at the Monday&#8217;s Dallas School Board meeting. &#8220;Cherinka does not have a vested interest in Dallas. He lives in what Forty Fort or Old Forge or something like that.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Get together as a union and get them out; choose one of your own to negotiate with this fine group of people.&#8221;</p><p>Neither Holland, of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, nor union president Cherinka were present at Monday&#8217;s meeting to hear Bittner&#8217;s comments or hear other residents who urged both the school board and union to sit down and negotiate.</p><p>The Dallas Education Association has worked without a valid contract since August 2015. Negotiations, which began in 2014, reached an impasse on issues of salary, healthcare, pensions and early retirement.</p><p>The teachers held a seven-day strike, beginning on Sept. 22, earlier this year. Last school year, the teachers went on a 22-day strike.</p><p>The union is threatening to strike again on Nov. 22.</p><p>Parents and taxpayers staged a rally on Sept. 29 to urge both parties to compromise.</p><p>&#8220;There is only a handful of people at these negotiation meetings, and the majority of people are left out in the dark,&#8221; Joanna Cunningham, a parent and rally organizer, said. &#8220;That leaves a problem of no transparency. So nobody has the ability to say what you should or shouldn&#8217;t be doing. No one has the ability understand the (school) budget.</p><p>&#8220;But what we do have the ability to say is that we want you at the (negotiating) table much more often than you are. You are meeting once a week, but it needs to happen every day.&#8221;</p><p>Earlier in the meeting, the Dallas School District solicitor Vito DeLuca said the school board and union have scheduled two negotiation meetings, one at 4 p.m. Wednesday and a second at 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 16.</p><p>&#8220;This board is very sensitive to being transparent,&#8221; DeLuca said.</p><p>Negotiation meeting minutes, which lists meeting attendance as well as offers made by the school board and received by the union, are posted on the district&#8217;s website for public viewing, Dallas School District solicitor Vito DeLuca said.</p><p>The school board wants to meet as frequently as possible and offered several proposals to the union, he said.</p><p>Also DeLuca added the school board offered to enter into non-binding arbitration twice, but the union refused.</p><p>Non-binding arbitration involves both sides agreeing to let a third-party mediator review proposals and develop an offer. Both the union and district would have to agree to the new plan to enact it. If either party refuses, the negotiation process starts again.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Shavertown resident Sherri Waslick addresses the Dallas School Board about what she believes is a lack of transparency in negotiations regarding the teachers&#8217; contract at a school board meeting on Monday night.  </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_TTL101017DallasSchoolBoard_1-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Shavertown resident Sherri Waslick addresses the Dallas School Board about what she believes is a lack of transparency in negotiations regarding the teachers&#8217; contract at a school board meeting on Monday night.  </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_TTL101017DallasSchoolBoard_3-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Dallas School District solicitor Vito DeLuca outlines the school board&#8217;s position on contract negotiations with resident Joanna Cunningham at the board meeting on Monday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_TTL101017DallasSchoolBoard_3-2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Dallas School District solicitor Vito DeLuca outlines the school board&#8217;s position on contract negotiations with resident Joanna Cunningham at the board meeting on Monday. </caption1><photoCredit1>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_TTL101017DallasSchoolBoard_4-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Dallas resident Clarke Bittner admonishes the teachers and union leadership as he sides with the school board at the meeting on Monday night.  </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_TTL101017DallasSchoolBoard_4-2.jpg</photo2><caption2>Dallas resident Clarke Bittner admonishes the teachers and union leadership as he sides with the school board at the meeting on Monday night.  </caption2><photoCredit2>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_TTL101017DallasSchoolBoard_5-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Dallas resident Mike Messersmith questions the school board about rumors of teachers refusing to chaperone the Homecoming Dance on Friday, Oct. 6, and extracurricular activities at the meeting on Monday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_TTL101017DallasSchoolBoard_5-2.jpg</photo3><caption3>Dallas resident Mike Messersmith questions the school board about rumors of teachers refusing to chaperone the Homecoming Dance on Friday, Oct. 6, and extracurricular activities at the meeting on Monday. </caption3><photoCredit3>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_TTL101017DallasSchoolBoard_2-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Dallas resident Joanna Cunningham pleads with the Dallas School Board and the teachers&#8217; union to start &#8216;real&#8217; negotiations and increase dialogue at the school board meeting on Monday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_TTL101017DallasSchoolBoard_2-2.jpg</photo4><caption4>Dallas resident Joanna Cunningham pleads with the Dallas School Board and the teachers&#8217; union to start &#8216;real&#8217; negotiations and increase dialogue at the school board meeting on Monday. </caption4><photoCredit4>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit4></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Frustration with board, teachers union evident at meeting</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Eileen Godin</p><p>egodin@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Eileen Godin at 570-991-6387 or on Twitter @TLNews.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Dallas School District taxpayers demand a resolution to contract dispute