Striking Teachers to Return to Work Wednesday

The Neshaminy Federation of Teachers has annouced that their has ended. Neshaminy students in kindergarten through 11th grade will report back to school Wednesday and their last day of school will be June 27.

NFT spokesperson Bob Schiers told Patch that the teachers have ended the strike effective immediately. They offered to return to classrooms Tuesday, however the school district requested they wait until Wednesday in order to have enough time to notify parents.

School board President Ritchie Webb said that representatives from the school district and NFT sat before Judge Robert Baldi this morning in the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas to hear the Department of Education's complaint regarding the end of the second strike.

It was during this hearing that the NFT offered to end the strike immediately.

“In an effort to demonstrate to Judge Baldi and the students of Neshaminy that we are ready, willing and able to do whatever it takes to get back to the bargaining table, we ended the strike immediately in order to be back in our classrooms first thing tomorrow morning,” NFT President Louise Boyd said. She added that the district could send a Global Connect message to parents throughout the district letting them know classes would resume tomorrow and that it's "unfortunate" that the district is prolonging the school year by another day.

Webb said that the school district agreed to reinstate classes as soon as possible, which it deemed to be this Wednesday to allow for adequate notification to parents and staff.

The NFT and school board will sit before a judge again June 25 to hear oral arguments regarding the NFT's motion for supervised and scheduled negotiations, with a requested minimum of four days per week including weekends, at a minimum of five hours per session, Webb said.

According to Boyd, the NFT plans to attend the originally scheduled negotiating session at 6 p.m. tomorrow.

"The Neshaminy School Board is pleased that the NFT has ended this second strike, and we look forward to resuming the last few days of the school year without incident. We ask all residents of Neshaminy to join us in welcoming back our teachers to a safe, productive learning environment," Webb said.