School Board Votes Down Arbitrator’s Teacher Contract Proposal

The Saucon Valley School Board voted 6-2 to reject the teacher contract proposal proffered by arbitrator Timothy J. Brown, Esq., Tuesday, potentially increasing the likelihood that labor strife could disrupt the new school year.

School board member Ralph Puerta began the meeting by explaining the board’s rationale for the “no” vote on the proposal, which board attorney Jeff Sultanik said Friday is more than $4 million costlier than the board’s latest proposal.

According to Puerta, in the board’s most generous contract offer to date teacher salaries would increase to between $48,000 and approximately $97,000.

Under the arbitrator’s proposal, they would increase to between $50,000 and approximately $102,000, he said.

“The salary has to be consistent with the abilities of our school district and we simply are not a Parkland School District—we do not have that kind of current wealth here,” he said.

Puerta encouraged teachers to reconsider their salary demands and said the board wants to meet with them before their scheduled vote on the arbitrator’s proposal on Thursday at 3:15 p.m.

“We want to settle this,” he said.

Puerta identified the other issues that led the board to vote against the proposal as:

• A retiree health provision he said “simply does not make sense the way it is written.”
• The retirement incentive the arbitrator included in the proposal, which he said recycles the current contract’s language.
• The graduate study provision, which he said includes a clause that will not be acceptable to teachers.

Puerta criticized the language in parts of the proposal, which he said is “convoluted, ambiguous” and “serves no purpose.”

Several audience members addressed the board during the courtesies of the floor part of the meeting, including Saucon Valley Education Association president Vivian Demko, who spoke positively of the proposal.

“Arbitrator Brown has found the grounds for compromise,” she said.

Pastor Phil Spohn, a Lower Saucon Township resident who is president of a local consortium of churches, struck a conciliatory tone with his remarks, in which he likened the relationship between the teachers and the board to a marriage.

“Our students deserve a happy marriage,” he said. “This is a marriage that won’t dissolve, but I can guarantee you, this problem will… Sooner or later you will compromise, and in any compromise there is sacrifice.”

Lori Vargo Heffner, a parent and resident of Lower Saucon Township, voiced support for the teachers, who she said have worked hard and remained professional under adverse conditions.

“Find other ways to resolve these holes in the budget,” she told the board shortly before it voted the proposal down. “The kids that are going to suffer are our children.”

The two board members who voted against rejecting the proposal were Jack Dowling and board president Mike Karabin. Board member Susan Baxter was absent with prior notification.

“It has been three very long years,” Puerta said, referring to the length of time that has elapsed since the teachers’ last contract expired.

Contract negotiations have been ongoing since January 2012.

Teachers’ first day back is Thursday, and the 2015-2016 school year in Saucon Valley is scheduled to begin for students on Monday.