By Catholic Philly Staff Report • Posted June 13, 2023

This afternoon Dr. Brooke C. Tesche, Superintendent of Secondary Schools and Schools of Special Education for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, issued the following statement regarding high school teacher contract negotiations. The Labor Management Agreement negotiations pertain only to the 15 Archdiocesan high schools. Parish and regional Catholic elementary schools in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia are not affected by the contract negotiation process. For more information on Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia please visit www.aopcatholicschools.org/.

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“Earlier today, Association of Catholic School Teachers, Local 1776 (the Association) voted on a new three-year Labor Management Agreement (LMA) proposed by the Secondary School System of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia (the System) for full-time, lay high school teachers in the fifteen Archdiocesan secondary schools serving the five-county region.

The Office of Catholic Education is deeply disappointed that the LMA was not ratified. Since February of this year, and over the course of 15 negotiating sessions, the System worked diligently, thoughtfully, and carefully with the Association to produce an LMA that best serves our school families and recognizes the value of our educators.

We had hoped that an early agreement could be reached now to provide our students, school families, teachers, staff, and administrators with peace of mind over the summer without fear of a delayed start to the 2023-2024 academic year in September.

The System greatly values the service of our teachers and the critical role they hold in the life of our local Church. Key components of the LMA from the perspective of the System were to provide greater assurance of job security, optimal pay raises, and ongoing stability with benefits costs. From our view, the proposed LMA met those goals while enhancing academic offerings, lowering class and homeroom size, and generating creative as well as competitive educational approaches.

The System is poised to return to the bargaining table as soon as possible with the goal of reaching an agreement. We take this opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to our teachers and to thank our school families for trusting in us to provide for the education and holistic formation of their children.”