Update on July 21 Negotiation Meeting

The Board’s Negotiating Committee and the NFT met last night for approximately two hours. Most, if not all, of the conversation centered on health care costs. The Board presented a cost savings proposal of self insuring our prescription plans, which our broker estimates will reduce our current costs $1.3 million next year, with similar savings in subsequent years. This would be an immediate savings with no impact on our employees. The Board cannot change this plan without NFT consent as any change would violate status quo. The Negotiation Team did bring up the topic of employee contributions towards health care premiums, but there was little reaction or comment from the NFT in this regard. The NFT offered no counter proposals last night. Another negotiation meeting has been set for August 12th.

Talks Rescheduled

The June 30th negotiation session with the NFT has been rescheduled for Wednesday, July 21st.

It's a done deal!

The Directors of the Neshaminy School Board are pleased to announce that the rank and file of the Support Staff union (NESPA) has accepted the contract offer which was announced earlier this week.

We thank the members of NESPA for their commitment to our students and the Neshaminy community.

Important update on NESPA negotiations

After many days and months of negotiations, the Neshaminy Board of School Directors and the leadership of NESPA have reached a TENTATIVE AGREEMENT.

The Neshaminy Board of School Directors will hold a public meeting this Wednesday, June 23rd, at 7pm in the BOARD ROOM at Maple Point to discuss, and vote to accept or reject the Tentative Agreement. All Neshaminy residents are encouraged to come to this meeting to learn more about the proposal and to offer their opinions during public comment.

Check back to this website on Wednesday morning for the details of the tentative agreement.

Update on latest negotiation session

School Board President Ritchie Webb released the following comments earlier today concerning last night's negotiation meeting with the Neshaminy Federation of Teachers (NFT):

"The board and NFT met last night [June 3, 2010] for approximately two hours. We had some positive dialog and managed to set another meeting June 30th. The Board provided the NFT with an update of our previous proposal with no changes. There was no counter proposal given to the board by NFT."

Fact Finder's report

Below is the Fact Finder's report followed by an analysis of the financial savings it represents. As you can see, the net savings in the first year is less than $536,000, and the three year savings is slightly more than $3 million.

Board President Comments on Fact Finder Recommendation

Neshaminy School Board President Ritchie Webb today issued a statement on the recent recommendation filed by the Fact Finder concerning the negotiations with the Support Staff union (NESPA).

Webb said that the entire Board appreciated the efforts of the Fact Finder but has “no choice but to continue exploring other options or else face painful cuts to student programs.” He added that the Board is in the midst of closing a $5.6 million gap in next year’s budget and determined that the Fact Finder’s report would yield a savings of only $535,815 in 2010-2011.

“The three-year savings of the report would only net our district a savings of slightly more than $3 million,” Webb continued, “and we can do, and must do, far better than that.”

Webb indicated that negotiations with NESPA will continue but time is of the essence. “We have only a few weeks left before adopting a final budget,” Webb said, “and our hope is that the Support Staff will step up to the plate in helping the district do what is necessary to continue providing our students with second-to-none, affordable public education.”

The Neshaminy School Board will officially vote on the Fact Finder’s recommendation at the May 19th public meeting.