NFT Postpones Negotiations; NSB is 'Concerned'

The Neshaminy School Board and Neshaminy Federation of Teachers were slated to meet at the bargaining table Thursday, Oct. 4, however the union postponed the meeting.

In the previous negotiation session, the NFT told the school board that they were working to develop a comprehensive response to the board's Council Rock proposal.

Thursday night, school board President Ritchie Webb said that the union postponed the meeting in order to have more time to prepare the response.

"We endured the embarrassment of meeting 56 in which the State Director of Mediation, William Gross, drove a long way to attend, only to learn that the NFT wasn't prepared with a response," Webb said. He also stated that the school board gave the union the proposal almost a month, answered their 44 questions and met six times since early September.

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"It doesn't take this long for the union to accept or reject the board's offer, and there is no indication that the teachers are being allowed to vote on it," he said.

In addition, Webb stated that he is concerned that the NFT negotiators have "misinterpreted recent civility" in negotiations as a sign that the school board is "willing to ignore the district’s financial and educational situations for the sake of ending this impasse."

"Let me reassure everyone that this is not the case," Webb said.

"If they continue to deny the teachers a say in this matter, and insist on ignoring the board’s offer in favor of asking for more than we can afford, they will cause irreparable harm to these negotiations," he stated.