Lehighton Area School District students will return to the classroom after Labor Day to begin the 2022-23 school year to accommodate negotiations on a teachers’ contract set to expire on Aug. 31.

Acting Superintendent Jack Corby said during a board workshop Monday night that teachers will report for two in-service days on Sept. 1 and 2, while students will begin classes on Sept. 6.

The basis for the later start stems from the result of a lawsuit decided in 2008 in the Northwest Area School District, which entitled teachers to automatic step increases in their contract if school started prior to the expiration of the current contract.

“For example, our contract with the teachers runs out on Aug. 31 and if we start before that, staff is entitled to those step increases,” Corby said. “I don’t want to put the school board in that situation come August or September, because that is something that should be settled during negotiations.”

In Northwest Area School District, the 2005-06 school year began on Aug. 25, 2005, six days prior to the expiration of the parties’ collective bargaining agreement. The district did not increase the bargaining unit members’ salaries based upon the steps and columns listed in the salary schedule.

As a result, the teachers’ union filed a grievance, which was eventually submitted to arbitration for resolution.

The matter eventually landed in Commonwealth Court, which upheld the arbitrator’s stance that column movement historically took effect on the first day of the school year.

“At the end of the day,” Corby said, “starting school before the contract expiration date could put the district in a legal situation and ultimately take this off the negotiating table, which we did not want to see happen.”

Lehighton’s proposed 2022-23 school calendar is available for review at https://bit.ly/3JysT0p.