As the school year begins, many districts in the Philadelphia region remain without teacher contracts
As the 2010-11 school year begins in the Philadelphia area Monday with students in some schools starting classes, more than a third of the districts on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware remain without teacher contracts.
Even so, no strikes are likely in the area at the start of the school year, according to officials of the Pennsylvania State Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers Pennsylvania.
The number of school strikes in Pennsylvania has dropped sharply in recent years, largely because of the economy. There were 14 in the 2005-06 school year; 18 in 2006-07; seven in 2007-08; eight in 2008-09; and eight in 2009-10, including one in North Penn.
In South Jersey, contracts remain unresolved in 28 districts in Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester Counties. In seven of those, tentative agreements have been reached but not ratified.
And the situations in seven districts are carryovers from the 2009-10 school year. There are 104 school districts in the three counties.
New Jersey teachers are barred
Read more: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/education/20100830_As_the_school_year_begins__many_districts_in_the_Philadelphia_region_remain_without_teacher_contracts.html#ixzz0yBah6lSR
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