Talking in the dark

From the BCCT. This is a bit of a sticky wicket, eh? No one wants contract negotiations to take place in the bright lights of public scrutiny. That's most definitely a time where quiet negotiations should take place without the nonsense of public posturing that public officials are prone to.

We also need to trust the negotiators to do the right thing. Here's where the Morrisville board would fail the test. Public trust in the Emperor and his board of chosen accomplices is falling to new lows each time one of them opens their mouth. Will and can the Bristol Borough board do better? Time will tell.

Let's be fair though. Teaching is not a part time job despite the nine month calendar.

Teaching is not for the faint-hearted: Would you want to be locked away with your children and 30 of their friends for most of the day, trying to make the time productive? Yeah...Didn't think so.

Teaching is not for the uneducated. The bachelors degree they first bring to the job is only the start. There's the masters courses, and for some, the doctorate. Do you want the village idiot to teach our children? Yeah...Didn't think so on that one either.

The rate of inflation is pretty steep too. I'm pretty sure at year's end, you'll be expecting a raise from the boss. It's only "fair", right? You put in your time. And the benefits? They're fair too! Gimme my hospitalization and prescription coverage. Gimme, gimme, gimme. And gimme more.

It's fair to question how and why the taxpayers should be involved in the process. After all, we do foot the bill. Aren't the elected board members supposed to be the taxpayer representatives though? At least part time, while they are education advocates the rest of the time. (Well, in Morrisville, they're taxpayers advocates 100% of the time, but I digress.) Do company shareholders sit in on employee performance reviews and wage negotiations? Yet they foot the bill, too.

It's just like any other election oriented activity. It's not perfect and it most certainly isn't foolproof or pretty. The only time we get to have our say is behind the curtain on Election Day.

Talking in the dark
Contract negotiations could benefit from openness.

Bristol Borough residents received encouraging news this week when we reported that the school board made a ‘fair offer’ to teachers. If so, teachers might swiftly agree to a new contract (the old one expires Aug. 31), which would ensure the school year won’t be disrupted by any sort of labor strife.

On second thought, we’re not really sure how encouraging the news is because we don’t know what the school board offered the teachers. Maybe it’s a “fair offer;” maybe it isn’t. We’re not really sure since the school board won’t elaborate on the offer. And that’s the problem with the way school boards handle contract negotiations. It’s all a big secret.

That means taxpayers are shut out of the process — until it’s time to pay the bill, of course. That’s a fact of life in Pennsylvania. Teachers make demands. School boards respond with offers. Taxpayers sitting on the sideline are obligated to cover the cost — whatever it is.

In the minds of some people, that’s not the way it should be.

Since taxpayers are footing the bill, they argue, taxpayers ought to get a say along the way. This could hasten fair offers and also reasonable demands because neither side will want to appear unrealistic or selfish in the light of public scrutiny. And whatever eventually is agreed to won’t come as a costly surprise to taxpayers. Sounds like an idea well worth exploring.

By the way, negotiators will meet again Tuesday — behind closed doors.