Children become pawns in contract battle

So much for prayers.

Just after my last post was published, I began receiving word from parents throughout the district that teachers were removing all art work and decorations from the walls of their classes – a first sign of a WTC action.

Now comes confirmation that the Neshaminy Federation of Teachers will indeed take this battle into the classroom and put it directly in front of those most innocent . . . your children. The following, which was provided courtesy of a faculty member, is a set of instructions issued by NFT leadership to teachers at Neshaminy High School, and the plan goes into effect on Monday, May 24th. I have not seen the action plans for the lower grades.



Please remember that many of our teenage students do read this blog, and so I must ask you to keep this in mind when posting your comments. As always, I reserve the right to edit comments as I deem appropriate.
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Spoken from the heart

I don’t think my words can adequately pay tribute to last night’s meeting. The heartfelt speeches given during public comment certainly stole the show. While a few of the speakers rambled a bit, most were direct and quite poignant. The meeting lasted over 2 hours, with only 20 minutes devoted to Board proceedings. I highly recommend you catch the replay on NNTV, which should be available by tomorrow’s 6pm broadcast.

There were 22 speakers in all, most of them talking at the beginning of the meeting and a few who waited to voice their opinions until the end of the evening. And there were several common themes throughout the night such as frustration with the contract situations, pro and con views of outsourcing, saving Consumer Sciences/the NHS Nursery School program from being cut, concerns over students being unsupervised during the Wednesday morning teacher solidarity marches, and the rumored work-to-contract action by the teachers.

If I had to pick one theme that stuck with me last night, it was the concern of our teachers possibly working to the letter of their contract. Two speakers addressed this topic from very different perspectives. First was Dawn Gayle (sp?) who angrily questioned why a Sandburg 7th grade field trip to Dorney Park was suddenly changed. She was followed later by Sandburg parent Kim Gallo who fought back tears as she questioned how teachers could claim to care so deeply for children yet take actions which would hurt them. Their messages were emotional and powerful, and I haven’t stopped thinking about them since.

Ok, so what of the rumored work-to-contract action? We haven’t received any official word from the NFT about the matter (yes, we’ve asked), but the rumors are everywhere, the most prevalent being that WTC will begin this coming Monday. Generally speaking, working to contract means that if it isn’t specifically in their job description and they aren’t being paid for it, a teacher won’t do it. I don’t know if teachers are permitted any discretion by their union as to what they can or cannot do. Heck, I don’t even know if there really will be a WTC action beginning on Monday. So there really isn’t much more I can say about this right now. I don’t even want to imagine a moment where a wide-eyed child approaches their teacher and asks for after-school help with an assignment, and the teacher says no. I know so many teachers in Neshaminy, and it would kill them inside to not help a student regardless of any contract impasse with the district. That’s why I hope that the rumors are false. Because if they are true, I fear the parent outrage we heard last night will grow exponentially, and an already tense situation will get far worse.

Say a prayer for false rumors.

Here is a link to the Courier Times' recap of last night's meeting.

Mark your calendars

We are starting up the Ad Hoc Facilities Committee meetings again. The Committee's purpose is to look at building utilization, primarily elementary schools, throughout the district to determine if there is a future opportunity to consolidate facilities. Our next meeting will be on Monday, May 17th at 6:30pm in the C&I Conference Room at Maple Point. Since Monday's agenda will be to review where we left off from last December's meetings, I don't anticipate we'll be more than an hour.

A reminder that Wednesday's (5/19) Board meeting will be held at Poquessing beginning at 7pm.

Have a great weekend!
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Board Prez weighs in on FF Recommendation

*** BREAKING NEWS ***

The Neshaminy School Board issued this press release a short time ago . . .

Board rejects fact-finder's recommendations

From today's Courier Times . . .

One yes plus one no equals no deal.

The Neshaminy support union approved a fact-finder's recommended contract, including agreeing to outsource busing. The school board, however, said no with its silence. Not responding within 10 days of the report being issued counts as a rejection, according to board President Ritchie Webb. Monday was the deadline to respond.

"The board still has some questions as to whether or not the report meets the financial needs of the district," Webb said. "We're also hopeful that we can have some discussions with the union to look at other options."

You can read the entire article by clicking here.
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On or off the table?

A quick show of hands, please . . . how many of you have been told by a Neshaminy teacher that they would be willing to contribute towards their monthly health care costs? I have heard from literally dozens of teachers over the months who have told me that they are willing. In fact, not one single teacher has told me they wouldn't kick in for their benefits. So why is it that NFT President Louise Boyd won't at least acknowledge that this issue is on the table for discussion? She doesn't have to negotiate a percent in public, just say that she is open to the idea. But she won't say that.

At the last meeting I tried to corner Ms. Boyd on the matter during her somewhat caustic speech to the Board. I asked her flat out if benefits contributions were on the table and she completely avoided the question. I thought maybe it was just me but even the reporter from The Advance, Joe Dynan, described the situation by saying she "sidestepped the question." Apparently Mr. Dynan questioned Ms. Boyd on the issue later in the evening and she said the offer to resume talks does not mean the union is willing to compromise on the health issue. You can read Joe Dynan's article in The Advance by clicking here.

This isn't intended as a Louise Boyd-bashing opportunity. As I said at the conclusion of the last meeting, I have a long-standing, respectful relationship with Louise and you have never heard me utter an unkind word about her. But I just cannot understand why she will not even indicate a willingness to open up to the single biggest obstacle in our negotiations. Virtually every issue involves money, and if we cannot get major concessions from the NFT on benefits, then there is no money available for us to negotiate anything else with. About the only thing we can discuss that doesn't involve money is random drug testing, and I hardly think that issue alone is worth the time and cost of having another round of talks.

As far as I am concerned, if employee contributions for benefits isn't on the table, then there is no reason to even have another negotiation session with the NFT.

If there are teachers out there reading this post who believe that contributing to benefits should be on the table, can you please tell that to your union leadership? Even if both sides agree that the subject is up for discussion, it will likely take us many, many months to make any progress in our negotiations. But none of that is possible unless the NFT takes the first step. And it doesn't have to happen at a public meeting. All it takes is for Louise Boyd to pick up the phone and give Ritchie Webb a call - just one quick call, and we can move on from this prolonged stalemate.

Until that happens, all any of us can do is wait. Just sit and wait.

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Our guiding principle

I told you last week I wasn't going to comment on Mindy Anderson's recent letter in the Courier Times because Board Prez Ritchie Webb had written a response that said everything I wanted to say. Well, his guest opinion appeared in yesterday's paper . . .

In her May 2 letter to the editor, Mindy Anderson, president of the Neshaminy support workers union, once again uses the skin of truth to explain the Neshaminy contract situation. We on the Neshaminy school board believe the public should have access to all the facts in order to make an informed opinion.

Anderson claims that the school board has not considered the financial impact of unemployment compensation in the event of outsourcing. Yet if she were to look at the proposed preliminary expense budget for next year, she would see that money has been set aside for a potential hike in unemployment compensation. And her assertion that we haven't considered the real future costs of outsourcing is absurd, given that each vendor responding to our request for bids has provided a five-year commitment on the cost of their services.

Next, Anderson says that the public is being misled about how many employees will be retained by outsourcing vendors. The board never said that all employees will be retained, but many of the vendors responding to our requests have indicated a willingness to rehire Neshaminy staff. In fact, a transportation vendor (First Student) stated in their official response that typically 90 percent of existing staff are retained.

If Anderson is so concerned about keeping jobs for the rank and file, perhaps she should explain why she isn't willing to make concessions that would have reduced costs for the district and protected jobs at the same time.

Anderson adds that Neshaminy support workers "offered to negotiate a realistic co-payment of health benefits proportionate to support staff wages." The truth behind that statement is that the union has offered to contribute to their monthly health care costs up to 5 percent at the end of a five-year agreement, but in return demanded a 5 percent raise to offset that expense. Not much of a savings there.

Anderson then says "a very convenient clause is embedded in the administrative contract," referring to an equity clause that guarantees no bargaining group will receive superior benefits/raises over another. Why would she complain about that when support workers demanded that their agreement contain this very same equity clause?

What Anderson fails to address in her letter is the toll that the support workers' Rolls Royce health care plan costs the district, the taxpayers, and ultimately our students. What Anderson should be telling us is which student programs she believes should be cut in order to pay for her union's gold-plated benefits package. Of course, she will never tell you that because she doesn't want you to make the connection that the contract demands necessarily mean a cut to student programs.

The one point we cannot dispute is Anderson's statement that she represents the support staff. But we, the Neshaminy School Board of Directors, represent the students of our fine district. And as we have said previously, when confronted with a difficult choice, that we will continue to err on the side of the kids. This has been and will continue to be our guiding principle throughout our negotiations.

Ritchie Webb

Neshaminy School Board President

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