This article was originally published in The Notebook. In August 2020, The Notebook became Chalkbeat Philadelphia.
Superintendent William Hite, along with retired teacher and activist Ron Whitehorne and education analyst Andrew Rotherham, will discuss the pending teachers’ contract on WHYY-FM’s Radio Times on Tuesday morning.
The current contract is due to expire in August. The District’s opening proposals — leaked last week to the press — include a steep salary cut, restructuring of the compensation system, an end to seniority and elimination of many provisions regarding working conditions, such as access to water fountains.
Hite, who has been superintendent for five months, has said that the proposals are designed to give teachers more flexibility and treat them more like professionals. Whitehorne, a longtime union activist who blogs at the Notebook, wrote in a recent post that the District’s opening gambit as contract talks began would wipe out all the gains that the PFT gained in nearly 50 years of collective bargaining.
Rotherham, who writes at Eduwonk, wrote a book about collective bargaining in education and has called for districts and teachers’ unions to negotiate in public. He is also co-founder of Bellwether Education Partners, a consulting group.
The discussion will occur in the 10-11 a.m. segment.