Nina Esposito-Visgitis, the longtime president of the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers, will retire next month, about six months before her term was set to expire.
Esposito-Visgitis has served as the leader of the union that represents teachers, paraprofessionals and support staff at the Pittsburgh Public Schools as well as the Pittsburgh-Mt. Oliver Intermediate Unit for 12 years.
Her last day in the office will be Dec. 8.
William Hileman, PFT vice president and staff representative, was appointed by the union’s executive board to succeed Esposito-Visgitis. Hileman has served on the PFT executive board since 2006 and was a biology, chemistry and physics teacher in the city school from 1986 until he became a union staff member in 2008.
He will take over the nearly 3,000-member-strong union on Dec. 11.
Esposito-Visgitis said that she has maintained since her last election in 2020 that she would not run for another term as PFT president.
She said she is retiring in December so that the union has some continuity as it heads into contract negotiations with the Pittsburgh Public Schools next summer. Four PFT contracts are set to expire at the end of June, the same time the union will hold its next election.
Esposito-Visgitis was appointed PFT president in 2011 after the retirement of John Tarka. She served in her role during the administration of three Pittsburgh Public Schools superintendents and was chief negotiator of all contracts since 2015.
She began her career in the Pittsburgh Public Schools as a speech-language therapist in 1980 and spent 22 years as a member of the PFT staff.
Andrew writes about education and more for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at agoldstein@unionprogress.com.