Little movement in Support Staff talks

Representatives from the district's negotiation team and NESPA recently met for further discussions of a new contract. Although there was some movement, both sides remain very far apart in the key issues. Here is a summary of the major points:

Contract Length and Outsourcing

The Board proposal: 3-year contract with an agreement not to outsource any work for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 contract years.

The NESPA proposal: 5-year contract with no change to the language regarding third-party contracting.

Wages

The Board proposal: To offset increased health care costs, a reduced year 1 increase of 1%, followed by raises of 3% in each of the second and third years.

The NESPA proposal: Year 1 = 0% increase, years 2-4 = 3.5% each, year 5 = 4%

Medical Benefit Contributions

The Board proposal: A reduced-cost medical plan with monthly contributions of 10%, 11%, 12% over three years.

The NESPA proposal: Maintain its top-tier insurance coverage with monthly contributions of 0%, 2%, 3%, 4%, 5% over five years.

Retiree Benefits

Under the expired contract, eligible retirees and their spouses receive full medical, drug, dental and vision coverage until age 65 with no premium contributions.

The Board proposes to eliminate these retirement benefits, to be replaced with a provision allowing all eligible retirees to remain in the group medical plan at District cost. The Union opposes any changes to retiree benefits (except that retirees will be placed into the same base medical plan as active employees).

Sick Days

The Board proposes that sick days should no longer count as time worked for the purpose of calculating overtime. The Union opposes this proposal.

Posted on the district's negotiation website is a more detailed summary of these issues along with several statements including, "the Union's refusal to adequately address the above issues, related primarily to benefits for full-time workers, leaves us little choice but to continue to consider contracting with third parties as a partial solution to the financial challenges we face."

You can get further detail on both the Board and NESPA offers by clicking here.

.

School Board Election Results

Attention readers: There have been a number of comments submitted to this post that are politically-charged one way or the other, and I have been struggling with which comments to publish and which ones to edit. So I have decided not to publish any of the comments regarding yesterday's election.

For those wishing to express their gratitude to either Dr. Spitz or Mr. Blasch, please submit your comment and I will pass them along privately.

Thank you for your understanding.

- William O'Connor
***********************************************

Updated 10:05pm, 11/3/2009

Projected winners will be bolded

Region 1 (Lower South) - Elect One
Joe Blasch (D)* -
Scott Congdon (R)

Region 2 (Levittown) - Elect One
Melissa Kitzmiller (D) -
Mike Morris (R)

Region 3 (Langhorne) - Elect Two
William Spitz (D)*
Lisa Reiser (D) -
Irene Boyle (R)*
William Oettinger (R)

(*) Denotes incumbent
.

Remember to Vote on Tuesday

The absolute worst thing you can do is convince yourself that your own vote doesn't matter. With the percentage of registered voter turnout expected somewhere in the mid teens, every single vote counts! Don't leave the future of your school board to chance.

For anyone who votes at Maple Point, I will be standing outside of the polling area all day so please stop by and say hello.

See you on Tuesday!

.

First meeting of ad hoc committee held

To consolidate or not to consolidate, that is the question. And that's the purpose behind the board's Ad Hoc Facilities Committee which held its first meeting last night in the board room at Maple Point. This initial meeting lasted barely more than an hour as we discussed the guidelines and resources we would use moving forward.

Neshaminy's elementary and middle schools are underutilized in terms of space, and our committee is tasked with examining data and other considerations (of which there are plenty) in order to make recommendations to the board which could include possible closure of one or more buildings. The Ad Hoc committee could also conclude that such closures are not feasible at this time, so residents should not hit the panic button just yet.

Last night's meeting was attended by myself and fellow board member Joe Blasch (Rick Eccles was absent), and district staff Jacqueline Rattigan and Paul Minotti. We were also joined last night by our business manager, Joe Paradise. There were three members of the public who were also in attendance, and we greatly appreciated their input.

We are working on a schedule for future meetings so please check back periodically for further updates.
.

Feds investigating claims against district

From today's front page headlines . . .

Federal officials are investigating three separate discrimination claims against the Neshaminy School District: one for alleged bias against female athletes; a second involving alleged discrimination against a student with disabilities; and a third alleging sexual harassment of a student, officials confirmed Tuesday afternoon.

Citing litigation issues, Superintendent Lou Muenker said he was unable to comment on the cases.
The first complaint, filed in August 2008, alleges the district discriminated against female athletes in regards to equipment, supplies, game schedules, practice times, locker rooms and assignment and compensation of coaches, according to Jim Bradshaw of the U.S. Department of Education's press office.

Several parents in the district have received letters asking to interview their children as possible witnesses.

The federal office received a complaint in May of this year alleging the district had denied a student with disabilities a free appropriate public education with respect to the evaluation, placement and discipline of the student, Bradshaw said.

A third case was opened in September after a complainant accused the district of subjecting a student to a sexually hostile environment and failing to address the harassment, officials said.

The investigations don't mean Neshaminy is automatically guilty of any wrongdoing, according to the Office of Civil Rights' Web Site.

Click here to read this article in its entirety.
.

Schools take extra precaution against spread of H1N1

Also in this morning's Courier Times . . .

Students with a fever, glassy eyes, sore throat and runny nose should not be sent to school, officials said.

Higher than normal absentee rates at two Neshaminy elementary schools and the increasing threat of the contagious H1N1 virus have prompted officials to post "preventive" messages on the schools' respective Web pages.

There's no indication that the virus, more commonly known as the swine flu, is responsible for the increased absentee rate at Oliver Heckman and Herbert Hoover elementary schools, Neshaminy Superintendent Louis Muenker said Tuesday.

Click here to read the entire article.

.

Seniors ask about teacher talks

This update courtesy of the Courier Times . . .

During a forum with more than 30 residents, [Neshaminy School Board president] Webb explained the board’s position and answered questions at the Villages of Flowers Mill in Langhorne. Union President Louise Boyd was also invited to the event, but declined since the union’s policy is not to negotiate in public. She didn’t comment further.

“(Teachers are) great people, who are dedicated to the students and the community,” said Webb. “But if we can’t get them to work with the board, we’ll face even tougher decisions next budget.”

Several residents said they didn’t understand why the board’s offer’s still on the table if the educators already turned it down. Other residents said the teachers are being reasonable. A woman who did not want to give her name said, especially in this economy, the teachers need to contribute to their health insurance premiums.

You can read the complete article by clicking here.
.