New Hope-Solebury teachers attend a school board meeting in September 2017.
The New Hope-Solebury Board of School Directors on Thursday approved a contract with teachers and other professional staff at their regular public meeting.
The New Hope-Solebury Education Association represented the employees, which include teachers, nurses, counselors, social workers, psychologists, and librarians.
New Hope-Solebury School Board President John J. Capriotti.
The new contract covers the period July 1, 2017, through June 30, 2021.
“Although it took 15 months to reach an agreement, the negotiations were always professional and amiable,” observed New Hope-Solebury School Board President John J. Capriotti. “We started far apart, but after both sides made significant concessions, we were able to come to agreement somewhere in the middle. This contract represents fair compensation for the teachers while minimizing the impact on our tenuous budget.”
New Hope-Solebury Education Association Chief Negotiator Yona Rose.
“The New Hope-Solebury Education Association is pleased to have settled the Collective Bargaining Agreement after 18 months of negotiations,” commented NH-S Education Association Chief Negotiator Yona Rose.
I confess to not knowing all the complexities of this contract issue and I’m not proud of that. I do see a striking similarity here with the way Congress does business. Overwhelming amount of documents (ie.the U.S.budget) are presented, an hour or so is alloted to read them and then our lawmakers supposedly cast an intelligent vote that affects millions.
To continue my previous post, here are some questions I asked about the financial aspects of the proposal. (1)” Does the board believe that if its last offer to the teachers before the impasse was fair and reasonable, what would have been the average tax increase per household over the life of the contract? (2) What would be the average increase per household if the Board tonight accepts what is being offered?”
“You,the Board have shown with graphs that even if the teachers accept the original offer, the district would still be on the road to bankruptcy. So if there are no further cuts when will the district go bankrupt?”
Just to be clear, this road to bankruptcy did not take place overnight, but years ago with a previous administration and school boards who believed that the road they were traveling on was The “Road to Shangri la.” Check out the U tube video,” New Hope Solebury, Don’t Break My Wallet.”
What I witnessed at last night’s school board meeting was a procedural mockery of Democracy. As I stated to the school board in my opening remarks, ” I have a copy of today’s Intelligencer, April 26,2018, the Newspaper of Record where there is no mention of the proposed teacher’s contract.[The Intell simply did not have enough time to make it public].
“Do you think that it is fair and reasonable for the school Board to vote on this tonight without the vast majority of the taxpayers in the community being given Sufficient Prior Notice so they could absorb the content of the proposal, ask intelligent questions and expect responses? ”
“That’s democracy. Those that vote on the proposal tonight, up or down, make a mockery of Democracy. Those that vote to delay the vote uphold Democracy.”
Needless to say, what I said fell on deaf ears except for one Board member who asked that the motion to vote on the proposal be delayed until next week. What the Board does not comprehend or want to comprehend is the fact that they are beholden and accountable first and foremost to the taxpayers of New Hope and Solebury who elected them to the school board, NOT the teachers or the administration who they hire.
While there was a short discussion of changing the foremat to give sufficient prior notice before voting on the next contract, all but one refused to be proactive and delay the vote.