`waltz' Crosses Emotional Landscape

1when Harry Met Coach, 
He Got Back His Future 
Meet Harry Barnes, First-year Student At Luzerne County Community College.

By ANNE KAROLYI; Times Leader Staff Writer
 Thursday, February 10, 1994 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 1 &amp; 16A QUICK WORDS: PAY SCALE DISPUTED
AT WVW 





PLYMOUTH -- Teacher and district negotiators in Wyoming Valley West School
District will meet again. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 At the request of union president Tony Kane, negotiation teams will review
the 3-month-old tentative contract agreement, still unsigned by both sides. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Kane's invitation stopped the school board from filing an
unfair-labor-practice action against the union, said director Kevin Warman.
The school board alleges the union has delayed signing the contract because of
a dispute about the salary schedule. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Teachers are paid according to a scale that includes 14 steps, or levels of
pay. The former board approved one schedule; teachers were given and approved
another, said director Ray Lowery. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The union wants the board to switch to the second schedule, which would
affect the paychecks of teachers at the lowest and highest ends of the scale. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The amount of money is the same for the district under both schedules.
Directors have refused to budge. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "You can probably attribute it to bad blood, for sure," said director Paul
Cwalina, who was not on the board when the contract was approved. "But Tony
Kane presented another schedule that the board did not approve, and he's
trying to blame it on the board. It's not our fault." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Changing the schedule would cost the district time and money, as payrolls
would have to be changed, said Lowery, who voted for the agreement in
November. More important, some teachers would lose money they have been
receiving since November, he said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "There are some teachers who would get hurt," Lowery said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Union representative Gloria Bartnicki said Monday that teachers had
approved the second schedule and understood their paychecks are now based on
the first. Some teachers would receive slightly smaller paychecks, while
others would receive slightly larger ones, if the schedule is changed. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Lowery said he still would not want some teachers to lose money now. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "There are teachers who don't understand it," Lowery said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Directors say both sides are meeting to negotiate only contract language
and the salary scale, not to renegotiate issues. Technically, without a signed
contract, any part of the agreement is fair game, officials said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "We could just say, `Forget it, we don't have a contract,' " Cwalina said.
"But I cannot see any benefit to either side in reopening the contract. All
it's going to do is open old wounds." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The previous school board tentatively ratified a contract agreement Nov. 3.
The four-year pact gave teachers 16 percent raises, or 3, 4.4, 4.3 and 4.3
percent each year. The agreement increased the average salary from about
$41,000 to about $47,500. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Three months later, however, the contract remains unsigned and therefore
unofficial. The delay stems from the union, which refused to sign the
agreement unless the board agreed to change the salary schedule, directors
said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Kane said he would not comment on the situation before hearing a response
to his request from Superintendent Norman Namey or the school board. The
meeting is a routine part of the contract process, Kane said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "We need to review it," he said. "What may be clear to them may not be
clear to us, and vice versa." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Only two directors who supported the contract -- Lowery and Neil McAndrew
-- are still on the board. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Directors George Dervinis, Ed D'Amico and Loretta Farris, who voted for the
deal, are no longer school board members. Warman, Jim Youngblood, Jim Burns
and Paul Dietrich voted against it. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Cwalina and fellow new director Mike Barna have said they opposed the
contract, and new director Daniel Chipego has never publicly taken a stand. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "We are not interested in renegotiating," Lowery said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Namey said the sides will meet within the next two weeks. Kane acknowledged
there has been a delay in getting the sides together. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "I had my reasons. But by the same token, I haven't received a document
from them with their signature on it," he said.

Pay Scale Disputed At Wvw District And Union Had Different Salary Scales In Mind During Contract Talks, Officials Say