Some Bucks teachers cut back on extracurricular work

Educators still without a labor agreement ‘work to contract’ to exert pressure without going on strike.

While teachers in half a dozen Bucks County school districts continue to work without contracts, they may not be giving the 100 percent that they have in the past.

According to Rob Broderick of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, some teachers are “working to contract.” In those cases, the teachers stop doing things that go beyond what’s specifically required in their contracts.

“They may decide not to sign college recommendations, not to do volunteer mentoring that they do after school, not to work with clubs that they normally work with but are not getting paid for,” Broderick says. “There are a whole wide range of activities that teachers do that are not in the contract that they’re basically volunteering for.”

Broderick says the strategy is designed to focus the attention of parents and the community on all the work teachers do that goes beyond their contract requirements. He says it’s a way to ratchet up pressure without going on strike.