The head of the city teachers union dismissed the claims of four new executive board members, saying dissension in the union is a reflection of current tough times in public education.

The four teachers, who were elected to the executive board this week, are disturbed they have not been named to the union's administrative staff, which essentially runs the organization. The group ran on a platform of "teachers for change," some defeating incumbents in the election.

But John Tarka, president of the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers, dismissed their claims that he is trying to usurp the power of their positions by keeping them off the staff.

"The fact that they won an officer's election does not mean they are automatically appointed to the staff," he said.

"Our constitution is very clear about the election of officers and the appointment of union staff," Mr. Tarka said. "I commend them for winning the election, but they made a wrong assumption."

Mr. Tarka said other officers had been executive board members for years before they were appointed to the administrative staff.

In Monday's election, which saw challengers defeat incumbent officers in a union election for the first time in at least 30 years, Pittsburgh Carrick High School teachers Dale Moss and Ed McManus defeated George Gensure as the union's vice president for high schools and longtime union secretary Sylvia Wilson, respectively.

Mark Sammartino, a math teacher and longtime critic of the union's leadership, was elected as an at-large member to the executive board as was Dawn Garland, a special education teacher.

The group campaigned on one theme: "To have the union get back to representing the views of the membership." They were surprised, however, when Mr. Tarka notified them that Mr. Moss and Mr. McManus would not be joining the union's staff even though they won key positions on the board.

Instead, they will remain in their teaching positions on July 1, the start of their four-year terms, Mr. Tarka told them on Wednesday, and they will take on their new roles on the executive board on a part-time basis during and after work as their schedules allow.

The group -- which maintains that union leadership has been drifting out of touch with the views and concerns of its 3,500 members, 2,700 of them teachers -- said they cannot take on what are full-time positions at union headquarters and remain teachers at Carrick at the same time.

President of the city teachers union since 2005, Mr. Tarka on Friday sent his members a letter explaining his position.

"Reasonable people can and do disagree about many things, but the issues of PFT executive board positions and staffing are clear in terms of both our PFT constitution and past practice," he wrote in the letter.

But Mr. Moss, who has taught science in the district for 19 years, said that practice lets union leaders keep power because they pick who holds the key positions in the union.

"It's undemocratic. There hasn't been any chance to unseat an incumbent for years, and now we have, and we feel that our votes have been made irrelevant," he said.

But what Mr. Tarka describes as disagreements, the group of four Carrick teachers contend is intransigence and a culture in union leadership that has led members to feel as though those leaders are not giving full consideration to their concerns.

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