STATEMENT FROM JAY LEVIN, GREAT VALLEY SCHOOL BOARD SPOKESPERSON FOR TEACHER CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS

Good evening. In keeping with the Great Valley School Board’s commitment to communication during teacher contract negotiations, I would like to share with you a brief update on the status of talks with the Great Valley Education Association.

We have been meeting regularly with the teachers’ union since the beginning of the year and have made progress on a number of contractual issues. Throughout our talks, we have remained focused on fulfilling the goals which we announced this winter. They are:

· To collaboratively explore options for addressing the time-related needs of teachers and students in a manner that supports the delivery of the school district’s high quality educational program.

• To offer a competitive salary proposal designed to attract and retain teachers, while taking into consideration the salaries of community members and educators in comparable school districts.

· To reduce the financial impact that escalating health care costs have on the school district and taxpayers by implementing new cost-sharing provisions.

· To continue to foster a positive environment by supporting initiatives which make Great Valley a superior place to work and to learn.

We will continue to keep those goals in mind when we meet again with the teachers’ union on June 17^th. We are optimistic that during our next negotiating session we can make some real progress resolving the outstanding issues of salaries, benefits and time.

To keep residents informed, we will deliver an update on that session at our next Board meeting on June 21^st. At that time, we will release the details of the major outstanding issues of both our proposal and the union’s proposal.

We encourage interested community members to attend our Board meeting on the 21^st. For those who cannot attend, updates will also be posted on the district’s website, www.gvsd.org. Thank you.

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