Philadelphia teachers approve contract

The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers' rank-and-file tonight approved a contract that included pay raises and the district's most significant foray into the controversial issue of performance bonuses.

The vote, 1,831-885, came after a spirited closed-door meeting at the Liacouras Center at which some union members called for a postponement of balloting and expressed frustration about Superintendent Arlene Ackerman and working conditions in their schools.

At a news conference after the vote, PFT President Jerry Jordan said the contract "goes a long way toward professionalizing the profession."

Ackerman in a prepared statement issued after the vote called the pact "a critical tool in implementing important reforms in the District, recruiting and retaining the best teachers, increasing student achievement" and "closing the achievement gap."

Teachers heading into the center on North Broad Street for their first full briefing on the three-year contract tonight said they were eager to hear the details, particularly about the bonuses.

"I'm excited that we finally have a contract to discuss," said Nicole Gaughan, a teacher at Central High School, adding that she was thrilled with the raises, which she called "unique in America today with this economy."

The pact, which runs from August 2009 through August 2012, also includes two across-the-board raises of 3 percent for the 17,000-member union, one this September and a second in January 2012. The raises follow a 4 percent increase last March under a contract extension. The median yearly salary for teachers is $66,986.

But the most controversial issue in the contract was language that would allow administrators to give bonuses to entire staffs in the best-performing and most-improved schools - a notion gaining renewed momentum in districts across the nation.

Several teachers had questions about how the system would work. While some worried that it would not be fair, others liked the idea of rewarding an entire staff because it recognizes that it's not just the teachers in tested subjects who contribute to a school's success.

"If we make the target, we all get it," said Wendy Coleman, a sixth-grade teacher at Laura H. Carnell School in the Northeast.

The union also represents counselors, librarians, school nurses, secretaries, classroom and nonteaching assistants, and other staffers. They, too, would share in bonuses.

Jim Hardy, a teacher at Kensington Culinary Arts School, said: "My concern with performance bonuses is that they're likely to rely on standardized tests. That's a measure we already rely on too greatly in education."

Other highlights of the agreement - reached Tuesday morning after months of negotiations and several contract extensions - include more say for schools in hiring their teachers, a new system for supporting and evaluating rookie teachers and those rated unsatisfactory, and broad powers in remaking the staffs and working conditions in failing schools.

It also extends the school year by one month for staff in the 90-plus low-performing schools, with extra pay for staff who agree to work.

And, it includes - for the first time - language that gives teachers the authority to "use reasonable force to protect themselves or others from attack or injury." That provision drew a standing ovation when read to the membership.

Ackerman and other district officials declined to comment tonight on how much the new contract would cost, or how much money would be set aside for the bonus system, saying that officials would hold a news conference Friday morning.

In essence, the bonus program will have two elements, one beginning next year and the other in 2011-12.

Beginning 2010-11, teachers and other PFT members in schools with "the highest level of student growth" will receive bonuses "contingent upon the availability of funding."

In 2011-12, additional pay will be doled out to PFT members in the best of the highest-performing schools and the best of the worst. Schools in the top 25 percent of the worst performers and the top 10 percent of the best performers will be rewarded.

After 2012, both criteria will be in place.

The district tried to institute performance pay for teachers under its contract settled in 2000, but abandoned the system when the union and district had trouble agreeing on terms.

The movement continued to evolve nationally and has received another boost under the federal Race to the Top program.

"A lot of school districts and a lot of states are exploring this - looking at student achievement and performance incentives," said Barbara Thompson of the Education Commission of the States' teaching quality and leadership office.

Rewarding an entire school staff for performance is more unusual, she said.

The new contract also breaks ground in transforming the 167,000-student district's lowest-performing schools.

In schools targeted for the Renaissance Program, the entire staff can be forced to transfer out and only up to 50 percent rehired; others would have to take jobs in other schools. Teachers in Renaissance schools also will have to work an hour more a day and possibly more days each year, but will earn additional money.

Schools to be placed in the Renaissance program will be announced soon and turned over to outside managers.

Before the vote, reaction to the pact among teachers was mixed.

"I don't see anything we're getting. I only see things we're giving up," said teacher John Volk, co-union representative at Martin Luther King Jr. High School.

But Carnell teacher Coleman said she liked that the due process system for a teacher rated unsatisfactory was clearly outlined. That teacher will get support for a year, and then his or her fate will be decided by a six-person team - three appointed by the union and three by the district.

Steve Wilson, a physical-education teacher at Thomas Holme School in the Northeast, said the union leaders had done well, considering Ackerman could have imposed new working terms on teachers under the state takeover law and federal guidelines.

"Most people won't be happy with what they get. But the only thing Ackerman has to negotiate is the salary and the health and welfare benefits," he said.

Wilson questioned the provision that allows the district to transfer staff out at Renaissance schools. It places all the blame for failure on staff and none on parents, he said.

"How can you can expect a child to improve those scores, when once he leaves the building, nothing else is worked on," he said.

In another major change, the district and union agreed to abolish a long-standing policy requiring teaching staffs to be "racially balanced."

"It will really be unfortunate if we find our teaching staffs becoming highly segregated," said Michael Churchill of the Public Interest Law Center Of Philadelphia.

The pact also expands "site selection," which allows leadership teams to interview and hire teachers without regard to seniority. All vacancies in the 90-plus lowest-performing schools will be filled through site selection.

The pact largely maintained health insurance benefits, union leaders said.

The School Reform Commission will vote on the contract next week.