Arbitrator’s Contract Proposal Costlier, Confusing, SVSB Solicitor Says

A state arbitrator’s non-binding contract proposal is both costlier than the school board’s final best offer and confusing in some ways, Saucon Valley School Board solicitor Jeff Sultanik said in an email following the issuance of Timothy J. Brown’s recommendations late last week.

On Friday, Sultanik said in an emailed statement to the media that he would not be making specific comments about the proposal until Aug. 25, because he had not yet had “a full and fair opportunity to meet with the entire board to elicit their thoughts regarding the recommendations.”

However, he said “number crunching” the recommendations resulted in information being shared with the board, which is expected to vote on the proposal at its meeting Tuesday at 7 p.m.

“Factoring in step movement, but not column movement, the total dollar difference between the board’s last best offer and the arbitrator’s recommendations amounts to $4,320,260,” Sultanik said. “The difference in dollars between the board’s Feb. 26, 2015, offer and the arbitrator’s recommendations amounts to $2,831,214.”

Sultanik also included a salary table to draw a comparison with teacher salaries in the highly-regarded Parkland School District; a table that displays a top-level Saucon teacher salary of $102,133 in 2017-2018.

“The Parkland School District in Lehigh County for the 2015-2016 school year has a Master’s +60 compensation level of $94,774, as compared to the recommendation of $97,687 by Mr. Brown,” he said.

Finally, Sultanik said the school board is “having difficulty interpeting the arbitrator’s recommendations in two specific areas, namely, Section 7 relating to healthcare retirees, and Section 8 relating to retirement incentive.”

An arbitrator is not allowed to clarify his recommendations once they are issued, so “it is likely that these two provisions will need to be bargained by the parties in order to avoid grievances in the future,” he said.

The Saucon Valley Education Association–which represents the teachers–has also declined to comment on the recommendations so far.

In an email last week, SVEA chief negotiator Rich Simononis said “the (Saucon Valley Education) Association is carefully reviewing the thorough award of the arbitrator. We will be presenting it to the faculty for a full vote on Aug. 27, 2015. We have no comment on the report at this time.”