Teachers want to keep 'Rolls Royce' health plan

Here are some excerpts from a story in today's Courier Times ...

No mention of health care premiums can be found in the Neshaminy Federation of Teachers' contract counteroffer, which was released by the school board Monday.

If the board were to accept the union's offer, the average salary of a teacher in the Neshaminy School District, including steps, would come to $101,391 at the end of the five-year contract term in 2012, board President Ritchie Webb said Monday. The contract would be retroactive to July 1, 2008, and would end June 30, 2013.

That sum is without factoring in health benefits, perks or pay for extracurricular duties, he added. Webb said the top salary would be about $111,200, before benefits and pay for extracurricular work.

In the union's five-year contract counteroffer, teachers would get a 2.75 percent increase in base wage for the first two years, a 3 percent increase in the third and fourth years and a 3.5 percent increase in the fifth and final year. The same percentages would be applied to step increases, based on service time and education level.

O'Connor said that a "me-too clause" included in the contracts for the district's support staff and its administration stipulates members of those unions cannot receive health insurance benefits that are inferior to any other group, including teachers.

"If we accepted this, we would in turn have to give that same benefit package to every other employee in the district," he said.

Click here to read the entire article.

Also in today's paper was a letter to the editor from a Neshaminy resident who said "Shame on the Neshaminy Federation of Teachers!" You can read her opinion by following this link.
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Board releases NFT Counter Proposal

The following was posted to the Board's Negotiation website just moments ago . . .

Although a thorough financial analysis of the NFT counter proposal has not yet been completed, the Neshaminy School Board has chosen to disclose the offer at this time (see below). The Board believes it is important that the information be shared ahead of Tuesday's Public Work Session so that residents may comment on it.

The Board will continue to withhold formal comment on the NFT counter proposal until its analysis has been completed.

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District officials work to prevent busing mix-ups

From today's Courier Times . . .

Last week, a 5-year-old kindergarten student from Oliver Heckman Elementary School got off at the wrong bus stop.

Though the situation ended safely and the child was reunited with his parents, according to his father, approximately 30 minutes elapsed during which he was left unattended on the streets of Langhorne before he was found by a bus driver and brought back to his home.

Tim Russell, an instrumental music teacher employed by the Neshaminy School District, said the situation involving his son was a result of "gross negligence" by the district.

"We feel very lucky that it turned out the way it did and we feel that Neshaminy should feel the same way," Russell said Friday.

You can read the article by clicking here.

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Courier Times: Thumbs down to NFT negotiators

Here is an editorial from today's Courier Times . . .

Thumbs Down:

To negotiators for the Neshaminy Teachers Union who continue to define themselves as unreasonable amateurs when it comes to negotiating a new contract.

Their latest example is a verbal counteroffer the union presented to the school board on Aug. 25. It begs logic that the union reps expected the school board to seriously consider a verbal contract proposal. As they should have, board members awaited a written version, which finally arrived Sept. 3, the Friday before a three-day holiday weekend. Still, union negotiators accused the school board of delaying tactics.

By our count, board members had the proposal in hand for just two work days before the union started squawking. The question is: Why did it take nine days to put the deal in writing. And why has the union not budged on its ludicrous insistence on continued free benefits, which folks in the real world haven't seen in decades.

And just because their accusations ticked me off, I'm gonna give the NFT negotiators a giant one of these . . .

NFT Prez: Board using "stall tactics"

A few days ago I received a call from a teacher who was concerned that the Board would not seriously consider the NFT's recent counter proposal. I assured this teacher that we were committed to a thorough review of the financial impact of the offer before making a decision. They responded with "that's all any of us can ask of you."

Apparently that's not true. Enter NFT President Louise Boyd.

Yesterday Ms. Boyd issued a statement to the Courier Times in which she accused the Board of stalling the negotiations throughout the past 2+ years. She appears to be frustrated that the Board didn't begin evaluating the merits of the NFT's verbal offer of August 25th instead of waiting for the written offer which wouldn't be delivered until another 9 days had passed. Apparently the NFT leader isn't interested in a thorough analysis of the offer. After all, it only took the NFT 2+ years to come up with this proposal. Certainly the Board should just accept it, quickly and quietly.

There is a certain irony to Boyd's anxiety over the perceived delay in a Board response. Remember it was the NFT who insisted that the Board should not be copied on any information they obtained from our insurance provider. Now, in order to consider the NFT proposal, we must reach out to the insurance company to verify information we could have (should have?) already had in hand. Or perhaps Ms. Boyd thinks we should trust their numbers without verification.

I'm also bothered by the seemingly minor point of when the Board received the NFT's written offer. Boyd insisted to the Courier reporter that the email was delivered on Thursday, September 2nd. The truth is this email wasn't received by the Board's attorney until the afternoon of Friday, September 3rd, and we provided the Courier with the email date/time stamp to prove it. For anyone who has followed the statements of alleged teachers (they always use fake names to hide their identity so it's impossible to know if they are really teachers) on the various blogs and Facebook pages, they see the outrageous claims and accusations made against the Board. Yet time and time again when confronted with the facts, these people change the subject and move on to another unsubstantiated rumor.

I understand and empathize with those of you out there who are anxious to see this contract impasse resolved. The Board is well aware of the pressure and impact this situation puts upon you and your children. Please understand that with decreasing revenues and increasing educational demands, we must not, we dare not, miss this opportunity to restructure the single highest cost driver to our operating budget. Borrowing a now-popular phrase, the Board must do the hard work to ensure that this district has a sustainable economic model that will enable Neshaminy to maintain academic excellence. If we fail on this opportunity now, we will be failing our students for many, many years to come.

“One of the great disadvantages of hurry is that it takes such a long time.” - G K Chesterton

Click here to read the Courier Times article.

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Written proposal received

A written proposal has been received from the NFT. The Board will take time to review the proposal before sharing with the community.
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Board member pushes to improve computer education

From an article in today's Courier Times . . .

At last month's meeting, board member William O'Connor said he won't support any budget proposal that lacks a significant upgrade to the computer education curriculum for the district's elementary schools. He estimates the revamped curriculum could cost upward of $800,000.
Although Computer Lab is on the schedule for all elementary schools at all grade levels, O'Connor said that isn't enough.

"Right now, our curriculum for elementary students is to teach keyboarding and basic computer skills and that's really focused at the fourth and fifth grade levels," O'Connor said Wednesday.

"Before last year we did not have any elementary computer curriculum."

He said the issue came to his attention after talking with parents and middle school teachers. Many parents contacted him by e-mail, he said, to express disappointment in the computer learning programs.

Middle schools in the district are forced to spend time teaching students rudimentary computer skills that should have already been covered in the elementary grades, according to O'Connor.

"Part of the middle school curriculum is to give assignments that involve Internet research and writing papers," he added. "This is in place with the assumption that the students already know how to do these basic functions such as searches and power point presentations. Because the kids learn this on their own at home, they end up coming to class with different levels of experience and skill."

You can read the entire article by clicking here.

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