BUTLER TWP — The Butler County Area Vocational-Technical School joint operating committee approved a five-year contract with a teachers union at a meeting Thursday evening, Dec. 14.

Regina Hiler, executive director of the vocational technical school, said 21 teachers at the school are included in the agreement, which is between the school and the Butler County Vo-Tech Education Association. The motion passed the board in a vote of 9-3, with the dissenting votes coming from Dennis Kelly from Karns City Area School District, Patricia Larrimer from Knoch School District and Kathy McBride from Moniteau School District.

According to Hiler, the union has not yet approved the contract, but she said its members will vote before the end of the year.

“Until then, negotiations are technically ongoing,” said the school’s solicitor Tom May.

The committee also accepted a donation of a 2024 Mustang GT from the Ford Automotive Career Exploration Program. According to Hiler, the vehicle will be used in the automotive technology program, as a subject students can practice on.

“Nothing that we give them they can take on the road, it’s just there to work on,” Hiler said.

Before the committee’s regular meeting, the committee appointed its leadership for the coming year. The board reappointed John Conrad, from Butler Area School District, to be the chairman of the committee, and reappointed Fred Peterson, of Seneca Valley School District, to be co-chairman through 2024.

The next joint operating committee meeting will be at 7 p.m. Feb. 1, where the committee will begin discussions around the following year’s operating budget.