Phila. School District Goes To Court To Challenge Arbitrator's Ruling On Rehiring Laid Off Counselors
By Mike DeNardo
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A Common Pleas judge is deciding whether an arbitrator correctly sided with the Philadelphia teachers union, in a dispute over how laid-off guidance counselors were rehired.
Take five decks of cards and fling them in the air. School District lawyer Craig Mills argued to Common Pleas judge Linda Carpenter, that's the kind of disruption that would result if an arbitrator's July ruling were enforced. That award said the district improperly bypassed seniority when it assigned more than 200 recalled counselors to schools in 2013. The district is challenging that arbitration ruling in court. Teachers union president Jerry Jordan says seniority should govern recalls and assignments.
"We had been told by the counselors who were laid off, 'If we come back, how are we going to come back? I don't want to go to another school,'" said Jordan.
The district argued there was no language in the PFT contract granting counselors the right to recall or reassignment by seniority.