Catholic high school teachers approve two-year contract

Catholic lay teachers streamed into Penn's Landing Caterers on Delaware Avenue today and voted 528-300 in favor of a new two-year contract. Teachers were returning to their classrooms this afternoon to prepare for the arrival tomorrow of the 20,000 students who attend the 20 high schools that the Archdiocese of Philadelphia operates throughout the five-county region.

"We have a contract!" announced Rita Schwartz, president of Local 1776 of the Association of Catholic Teachers. Most teachers will receive a $1,500 salary increase the first year and $1,700 more for the 2007-2008 school year. In an effort to avert a strike, talks continued throughout the night, and both sides had agreed to a news blackout. On Sunday, the teachers union had declared an ...