Teachers Blast Board for Sending Lawyer to Negotiations

A cadre of Saucon Valley teachers dressed in matching black shirts criticized the school board for its decision to disband its negotiating committee and instead send designated representatives to a May 7 meeting with representatives from their union–the Saucon Valley Education Association–at Tuesday night’s board meeting.

In spite of the criticism, the board voted 6-2 to approve a resolution to authorize its representatives—district finance director David Bonenberger and chief negotiator/spokesman, attorney Jeffrey Sultanik—to request issue-by-issue non-binding arbitration if the May 7 negotiations aren’t fruitful. The request would be made contingent upon a promise by the association to waive its right to engage in a strike and proceed to “negotiated final best offer arbitration.” Board members Jack Dowling and president Michael Karabin voted against the resolution.

Tuesday’s meeting was characterized by tense talk from a number of teachers, with comments occasionally lobbed from the packed seating area; off-the-cuff remarks which at one point prompted board member Susan Baxter to approach Karabin to ask that anyone wishing to speak do so from the podium.

A focus of the discussion was Sultanik, who teacher Cameron Fowler referred to as a “million dollar lawyer”–a reference to a recent report that noted he has earned hundreds of thousands of dollars from his work on the years-long contract negotiation process in Saucon Valley.

“You and your million dollar lawyer have engaged in a process that can only produce a win for yourselves,” Fowler said. From the beginning of the negotiations process in early 2012, “it was clear that you were out to hurt the teachers,” he said.

Teacher and soccer coach Mel Moyer—who criticized Saucon Valley coaches’ pay in light of the district’s athletic accomplishments–said quotes from Sultanik that have appeared in articles about the contract dispute are “dragging our district’s reputation through the mud.”

“To many in the Lehigh Valley, (the Saucon Valley School District is) merely a sideshow,” he said.

“I…sincerely believe that sending your lawyer to do all the negotiations cannot possibly bring us closer to settling this,” declared middle school language arts teacher Alex Kreutzer, who noted that he’s also a member of Saucon Valley’s Class of 1989.

The board’s solicitor, Mark Fitzgerald, defended Sultanik’s role in the process.

“Mr. Sultanik wants a deal done,” he said. “I think the teachers are on thin ice when they’re demanding who the board has at the table… The board has its prerogative to place who they want at the table.”

Comments made by several teachers provoked an emotional retort from board president Michael Karabin, who was criticized for his role in helping to establish a charter school.

“I have no respect for you,” said teacher Daniel Walter, who said he hoped he would not get in trouble for the statement.

Some teachers believe support for charter schools weakens the public school system, but Fitzgerald said charter schools are public educational institutions as well.

Karabin for his part said he hasn’t had any association with the charter school for some time.

“I’ve been through these halls since the 1970s,” Karabin said, adding that he’s served on the school board for more than 20 years.

The “audacity” of the attack on his commitment to education in the Saucon Valley brought tears to his eyes, he said.

“It’s everybody involved in this. It has to be,” he said.

Responding to a criticism by Moyer–who asked him to recall his name–he said, “I apologize. I would love to come to more sports functions… I’m sorry I don’t memorize all your faces and names.”

Fitzgerald confirmed that the contract proposal that will be on the table when the two sides meet next week is one from October 2014, which is less generous than a “bottom line” contract offer the board floated in late February.

That offer was pulled after teachers failed to vote on it by an April 10 deadline. Teachers requested and a parents’ group later petitioned for an extension of the expired deadline to April 15, but the board narrowly voted down that request at a meeting April 14.

The SVEA subsequently voted by a 2-1 majority in favor of a strike authorization when it met April 15, and board members symbolically voted down the Feb. 26 proposal that was no longer on the table.

A strike authorization means a walkout could be called with 48 hours notice.

Saucon Valley teachers last struck in the fall of 2009, and teachers also walked off the job in 2005 and 2008.

Kreutzer, who spoke at some length, compared the negotiations by the board to “a bullying process” and said teachers have been emotionally downtrodden to a point where they feel their choices are to accept one of two common forms of schoolyard hazing: a “purple nurple” or an “atomic wedgie.”

“We’re not the greedy teachers. I promise you. We’re not just looking out for ourselves,” he said. “But we’re willing to stand up for what’s logical, honest and fair.”

Both sides received a standing offer from Pastor Phil Spohn of Christ Lutheran Hellertown, who spoke on behalf of the Hellertown Area Ministerium—a consortium of local churches he said wants to help bring an end to the long-running labor strife in the district.

“We can handle this,” said Spohn, who is president of HAM, and also noted that a group of church leaders helped avert a teacher strike when he was a student at Lehighton Area High School. “Give us a try… We’d like to help.”

Board member Ed Inghrim was absent from the meeting.