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<p>DALLAS TWP. &#8211; Dallas School District teachers, students and officials can finally put more than three years of labor strife behind them as the school board approved a new teachers contract at a short meeting Sunday night in the Wycallis Elementary School.</p><p>The Dallas Education Association, the teachers union, approved the contract on Sept. 20.</p><p>The agreement, which will run until Aug. 31, 2023, ends a dispute that dates back to August 2015 and saw three strikes, court-ordered negotiations and legal maneuvering.</p><p>&#8220;I think the cloud is going to start to lift, and the kids are going to know now that they&#8217;re not going to be anxious because they&#8217;re going to know that we&#8217;re here and there&#8217;s going to be stability,&#8221; teachers union President Michael Cherinka said. &#8220;There&#8217;s going to be no threats of strikes, or nothing hanging over their heads.&#8221;</p><p>The new contract is retroactive to Sept. 1, 2015.</p><p>However, District Solicitor Vito DeLuca said there will be no retroactive payments.</p><p>&#8220;One of the issues that really started to manifest itself as the years went on was the inability of the district to really pay a large retroactivity award,&#8221; DeLuca said. &#8220;This proposal was a compromise. We have no retroactivity &#8230; and we really insured the sustainability of finances for the district by securing some concessions for the new hires.&#8221;</p><p>New teacher hires will pay a 10 percent premium share, lose an early retirement incentive and won&#8217;t have their medical insurance paid for after retirement, he added.</p><p>Current employees will pay about 6 percent of their healthcare and were offered a no premium-share option with reduced benefit levels.</p><p>Both DeLuca and Dallas Education Association President Michael Cherinka lauded mediator Bill Gross with helping make the contract a reality.</p><p>Gross was appointed by Judge William Amesbury back in August to negotiate with both sides in binding arbitration with the hopes of sealing a deal. Previously, the association and district were ordered to have daily negotiations in July after the association held a strike in June.</p><p>Cherinka said he was happy to see the two sides finally come to an agreement.</p><p>&#8220;This huge weight has been lifted,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I&#8217;m happy that we&#8217;re just going to be able to get back to focusing on teaching the kids here at Dallas and have some stability for the next five years.&#8221;</p><p>Cherinka added that not only will teachers and district board members be happy, but district students should be as well.</p><p>Both DeLuca and Cherinka said both sides have learned valuable lessons and hope they now have the tools and resources for preventing such an event from happening again.</p><p>&#8220;We really did the best that we could with what we had,&#8221; Deluca said, citing a dynamic process married with an ever-changing financial status within the district throughout the negotiations.</p><p>Cherinka said he hopes the association and district can continue having a good relationship throughout the remainder of the contract, while keeping an open line of communication between the two entities.</p><p>&#8220;To just talk and keep everybody up-to-date on what&#8217;s going on, and that&#8217;s if something to come down the pike, we would know ahead of time and we could plan for it,&#8221; he said.</p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/web1_Dallas-Area-Contract-5-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Cherinka </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/web1_Dallas-Area-Contract-5-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Cherinka </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/web1_Dallas-Area-Contract-4-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Dallas Area School Board President Sherri Newell glances over the board room looking for questions from the audience upon ratifcation of the new teachers contract. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/web1_Dallas-Area-Contract-4-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Dallas Area School Board President Sherri Newell glances over the board room looking for questions from the audience upon ratifcation of the new teachers contract. </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/web1_Dallas-Area-Contract-3-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Dallas Area School District board member and finance chair Patrick Musto reads the resolution to adopt and ratify a new teachers contract. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/web1_Dallas-Area-Contract-3-1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Dallas Area School District board member and finance chair Patrick Musto reads the resolution to adopt and ratify a new teachers contract. </caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/web1_Dallas-Area-Contract-1-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">The Dallas Area School Board convened at a special meeting Sunday evening to ratify a new teachers contract. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/web1_Dallas-Area-Contract-1-1.jpg</photo3><caption3>The Dallas Area School Board convened at a special meeting Sunday evening to ratify a new teachers contract. </caption3><photoCredit3></photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/web1_Dallas-Area-Contract-2-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">A near capacity crowd attended the Dallas Area School Board meeting Sunday night at Wycallis Elementary School. The board approved a new teachers contract at the meeting. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/web1_Dallas-Area-Contract-2-1.jpg</photo4><caption4>A near capacity crowd attended the Dallas Area School Board meeting Sunday night at Wycallis Elementary School. The board approved a new teachers contract at the meeting. </caption4><photoCredit4></photoCredit4></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Board approves pact, ending years of labor strife</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Marcella Kester</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div>

Dallas teachers have a new contract