From the Inquirer
Souderton teachers, board to talk Friday
By Dan Hardy
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER Posted on Thu, Sep. 4, 2008
Striking teachers and the Souderton Area School Board will hold their first negotiating session tomorrow since the teachers started walking picket lines Tuesday, the first day of school.
The two sides are far apart; the main issues in the 5,900-student district are wages and healthcare benefits.
The 512-member union's latest proposal was for a 5.98 percent wage increase in the first year of a four-year agreement, 9.4 percent in the second year, 7.14 percent in the third, and 6.9 percent in the fourth. The school board is proposing a three-year contract with increases of 2.5 percent each year. The school board is seeking to eliminate its highest-tier health plan and wants higher premium contributions and more copays for the remaining two. The union wants to leave all three plans in place with the same percentages of premium contributions that are now in effect, and wants to add improvements to the plan.
Even if no settlement is reached, the teachers must return to work on Sept. 24, state education officials have told the union and the district.
Under Pennsylvania law, the teachers must go back in time for students to receive 180 days of instruction by June 15 of next year. The Sept. 24 date would allow that, counting in state-set holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas and including five district-designated holidays.
If the strike lasts until Sept. 24, the two sides would enter a state-mandated final best-offer arbitration process that could take several months. A three-member panel would issue recommendation after holding hearings. If either of the two sides reject the proposed settlement, the teachers could strike again, but would have to return to work in time for students to receive 180 days of classes by June 30.
The Souderton strike is the only one in the Philadelphia suburbs this fall, but yesterday teachers in Delaware County's Springfield school district authorized their leadership authorization to call a strike if necessary. No deadline has been set; bargaining is scheduled for tonight.
Friday, September 5, 2008
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From today's Phila. Inquirer:
Talks break down in Phila. area school strike
By Dan Hardy
Inquirer Staff Writer
Talks between striking Souderton Area School District teachers and the school board broke down yesterday morning after one hour, with no progress reported.
Negotiations likely will resume next week, said Bill Lukridge, president of the Souderton Area Education Association, but no date has been set. The strike began Tuesday.
The sides are far apart; the main issues in the 5,900-student district are wages and health-care benefits.
Each side blamed the other for the stalemate.
School board attorney and negotiator Jeffrey Sultanik said that because the strike is in progress, the school board brought up proposals at the session on how many teacher days would be made up, salary retroactivity, and health care payments.
"We had also requested that the union counter our salary proposal that we made on Labor Day, which they had never countered," Sultanik said. After state mediator Jill Leeds Rivera told the board that the union was not countering the salary proposal and not responding to the new strike-related proposals, "she suspended the talks," Sultanik said.
Rob Broderick, a staffer with the Pennsylvania State Education Association, said in a statement that "the school board came in and instead of negotiating what was on the table, threw new items onto the table related to what happens after the strike." He added: "The board is obviously more interested in punishing teachers than in negotiating."
The 512-member union's last wage proposal was for a 5.98 percent wage increase in the first year of a four-year agreement, 9.40 percent in the second year, 7.14 percent in the third and 6.90 percent in the fourth. The school board has proposed a three-year contract with increases of 2.5 percent each year.
The school board wants to eliminate the teachers' highest-tier health plan, and to institute higher premium contributions and more co-pays for the remaining two plans. The union wants to leave all three plans in place with the same percentages of premium contributions that are now in effect, and wants improvements.
Even if no agreement is reached, under Pennsylvania law the teachers must return to work by Sept. 24, in time for students to receive 180 days of instruction by June 15, 2009.
The Souderton strike is the only one in the Philadelphia area this fall, but on Wednesday, teachers in Delaware County's Springfield School District authorized their leadership to call a strike if necessary. No strike deadline has been set; a bargaining session Thursday night did not result in an agreement. No further talks have been scheduled.
More from today's Phila. Inquirer:
Parents scramble as Souderton teachers' strike drags on
By Kristin E. Holmes
Inquirer Staff Writer
For parent Carole Wood, the teachers' strike in the Souderton Area School District has meant postponing her planned return to work after having a baby.
Wood, a mother of five, was set to resume her job as a personal trainer.
"I had found child care and the kids were ready to go back, and now it's all on hold," said Wood, of Telford.
The strike in the Montgomery County district has sent parents scrambling for child care and looking for ways to occupy idle minds. Students have filled the unexpected time off with jobs, video games, sports and, in some cases, nothing in particular.
The teachers' strike that began on Tuesday is the result of a standoff between educators who want higher pay and benefits in a county where their starting salaries rank among the lowest in the Pennsylvania suburbs, and school district officials who argue that union demands are unreasonable.
The sides met to negotiate yesterday, but talks broke off and no new date has been set. At least one thing is sure: Schools must reopen by Sept. 24 - with or without a contract - so students can get in the required 180 days by June 15.
Parents are hopeful that the impasse won't drag out that long.
"Hopefully, they can quickly come to some middle ground where everyone will be happy," said parent Patricia Lembo of Souderton.
The strike comes at a time when the district is coping with growth and expansion in an area of upper Montgomery County that 25 years ago was largely rural. In 2004, a comprehensive plan was developed for the region "to ensure smarter growth" in an area that was feeling growth pressures pushing out from Philadelphia.
The district includes Souderton and Telford Boroughs and the townships of Franconia, Lower Salford, Upper Salford and Salford. At 49 square miles, it is the largest district geographically in the county.
Housing development and business growth have led to a spike in student population. In 1990, the school district population was 4,900. Current enrollment is 6,900 and an increase to 7,247 students is projected by the 2013-14 school year, according to a study by the Pennsylvania Economy League.
The district opened a seventh elementary school in 2003 and is building a new $114 million high school.
The cost of managing that growth, largely by way of property taxes, has pitted factions of the community against each other, said parent Bob Solomon of Lower Salford.
"It's a situation that puts people who have children in the school district against people who are on fixed incomes and may be seniors," Solomon said.
The district's 2008-09 budget included no tax increase for the first time in at least 20 years, according to the district's Web site. The budget of $95.8 million was a $2.2 million increase over the 2007-08 budget of $93.6 million. The district levies a 1 percent earned-income tax. Residents also pay $2,446 for every $100,000 of their property's assessed value.
Some parents say they are more than willing to pay the price for ensuring that their children receive a quality education.
Parent Rosemary Buetikofer believes the teachers deserve a raise. "Our teachers are terrific," said Buetikofer, of Harleysville. "I think they deserve to be paid more in keeping with the other teachers in Montgomery County. I think they have shown that they are worth it."
The 512-member teachers' union is especially focused on improving starting pay - which at $37,323 puts Souderton at the bottom in Montgomery County and among the bottom in the Pennsylvania suburbs.
In reading and math, the district scored well above the state educational targets. For example, in 11th grade, 81 percent of students met the state standard in reading and 74 percent met the standard in math.
But some parents balk at what they believe is a salary proposal that is too high, particularly in tough economic times.
"If you're asking for that kind of increase, you're going to have to walk" the picket line," said parent Ken Killian of Souderton, referring to union demands for a four-year contract with raises of 5.98 percent, 9.40 percent, 7.14 percent, and 6.90 percent. "Nobody's going to give it to you."
Killian's daughter sees both sides.
"I think they deserve a raise," said Katrina Killian, 16, who is going into the 11th grade at Souderton Area High School. "But maybe 4 or 5 percent."
During the strike, Katrina Killian is working at one of four strike day-care programs offered by the Indian Valley Family YMCA in Harleysville. The Y has organized a special program for students at three district elementary schools and the Y's Harleysville location. The cost is $15 per day, per child. The program quickly reached capacity, but officials added staff to accommodate more families.
Outside the high school, where teachers were picketing, four students showed their disappointment. Travis Copenhaver, 14, of Souderton, and three students he was baby-sitting held up their own picket signs.
"My brain is dying, so stop the strike," read one sign.
Baby-sitting is one way that students are occupying their time, while at the same time helping out harried parents.
Karly Warner, a ninth grader at Indian Crest Junior High School in Harleysville, is caring for four children from two families at the home of parents Kristie and Jeffrey Faust in Salford Township.
"I was scrambling," said Kristie Faust, a manager at Merck & Co. in West Point. "But I was fortunate when I learned that Karly was available. It was wonderful for us because I was in a panic for a while."
More from today's Inquirer. I didn't know Camden's school board was buffed in the first place, but apparently it's being re-buffed.
Camden school board is rebuffed
Corzine vetoed recent labor and personnel actions in expectation that they would be budget-busters.
By Rita Giordano
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
In his second budget rebuff to the Camden School District in less than four months, Gov. Corzine has struck down proposed agreements with four unions and rejected the appointments of seven administrators.
Letters from Corzine to School Board President Sara T. Davis, dated yesterday and released to reporters yesterday, indicate that he based his action on the district's failure to submit a final budget for this school year to the state. The board approved the appointments and labor pacts at a recent meeting.
"In this difficult fiscal climate, it is not prudent to add to the district's administrative costs while the district's 2008-2009 budget remains unresolved," Corzine wrote.
Similarly, Corzine said he was vetoing the board's preliminary agreements with four unions because he wants Camden to hold down costs and require employees to contribute to benefits. Corzine said he was concerned that the additional costs would require Camden schools to exceed the state-imposed cap of 4 percent on tax increases.
State Education Lucille Davy said the unions in question cover administrators, school psychologists, custodians and support staff.
The board approved the labor agreements and administrative appointments Aug. 19. Corzine has veto authority over board actions under the Camden Municipal Rehabilitation and Recovery Act of 2002. Three school board seats are filled by gubernatorial appointees.
A state fiscal monitor also oversees the district's budget with authority to overturn spending decisions.
In June, the Camden board approved a $341 million budget that included staff and program cuts, but only after the state imposed a partial spending freeze on the district for failing to hand in a balanced budget. The budget the district had proposed called for an additional $19.5 million in aid from the state. After the district trimmed its budget figure, the state deemed that Camden was working in good faith.
But yesterday, Davy said the district, with 15,400 students, had yet to provide complete budget information.
"The board may have voted on some number, but we don't have the documentation every other district in the state" provides, Davy said.
The district's budget might be balanced but, she added, "we don't have the documents to reach that conclusion."
Board president Davis, reached at home, said she heard she had received letters but had not yet seen them. She expressed dismay over the governor's latest censure.
"I'm quite disappointed and upset that this action has been taken," Davis said.
She said some of the administrative appointments were promotions. The action on the proposed labor agreements, she estimated, would affect from 800 to 1,000 employees who have been working without a contract for three years. She said she felt the district was being treated harshly.
"It seems Camden is held closer to the vest than anyone, and I have problems with that," Davis said.
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