The Pleasant Valley School Board approved a unique solution to resolving a staffing issue.

A speech and language teacher at the elementary school is out on maternity leave, so two teachers will take a portion of her cases while she is away.

The school district and the Pleasant Valley Education Association (the teachers union) agreed to a memorandum of understanding regarding the caseloads.

Teacher Lindsey McKenna will handle 31 cases and will receive a lump-sum payment of $4,526.09. Corey McKeever, also a PVES teacher, will take 22 cases and receive $2,488.30. Payment will be made in the second pay period of June.

The MOU states, “This Memorandum of Understanding shall not be used in any way to establish a past-practice, precedent, or be used as evidence in any arbitration in the future other than to enforce the terms of this Agreement.”

The agreement is in effect from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2029.

In other business, the board also approved affiliation agreements with Lehigh University and Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania, which was formed in the merger of Bloomsburg University, Lock Haven University and Mansfield University.

Affiliation agreements provide student teaching experience for college students studying education.

“I’m glad to see student teachers coming in,” school board director Norm Burger said. “It’s a project that we’ve done in the past, and we get individuals who come in and see the types and quality of things we’re doing here. They will become candidates for openings we have in the future.”