from buckslocalnews.com
Pennsbury School Board members trade angry shots, two will attend contract negotiations
By Petra Chesner Schlatter, BucksLocalNews.com
The next negotiating session between the Pennsbury School Board and the Pennsbury Education Association (PEA) is scheduled for Wednesday, July 28.
However, the board was split on whether to send school board members to the bargaining table. Because of a 5-4 vote tallied during an executive session, Howard Goldberg and Gene Dolnick will be part of the talks.
Voting in favor of the action were Wayne DeBlasio, Gary Sanderson, Linda Palsky, Goldberg and Dolnick. Opposing the matter were Board President Greg Lucidi, Simon Campbell, Kathleen Zawacki and Allan Weisel.
Campbell told BucksLocalNews.com that “Goldberg and Dolnick are kissing the ring of union boss George Miller and getting ready to raid the bank accounts of taxpayers.”
He added that sending two board members to the negotiating table will be “a complete disaster because it is pandering to the union for no legitimate reason.”
About the board majority, Campbell said “throw them out of office in the elections next year.”
Goldberg responded, "I fully expect that Mr. Campbell, Mr. Weisel and others who share their views will seek to discredit the negotiations process in the upcoming months, through name-calling and slander.
“They will assert that those who do not agree with them have abandoned the community and the taxpayers even though this is not the case,” he said. “Sadly, they would rather engage in these politics than try to solve the problems at hand in a manner that benefits the entire Pennsbury Community.”
Weisel told BucksLocalNews.com that “the five board members, led by de facto Board President Howard Goldberg, disregarded the interest of the taxpayer and voted to seek a quick settlement with the PEA.
“Their fear of a strike has caused the five members to sell the students and taxpayers down the river,” Weisel added.
Weisel said the five members (the majority) were “all in agreement, which could lead one to believe that their take-over of the board was pre-planned.”
Goldberg said, “Apparently, when the majority of the board agrees with Mr. Weisel, there is not a problem, but when the majority of the board disagrees with him, this is a ‘take-over.’ It would appear Mr. Weisel’s definition of democracy is ‘My way or the highway.’”
Dolnick said he was part of the majority which is “centralist as compared to the Campbell–Weisel, who are fighting and trying to cap everything as they are the protectors of students and taxpayers while the centralists are union panderers. And that’s inaccurate, untrue and they’re just trying to take over the board. They are not team players.”
About negotiations, he said, “We’ve spent approximately six months with the chief negotiator, which has yielded nothing,” he said. “If there’s a chance to reach an agreement that would be a change for taxpayers, students and professionals, the majority of the board felt we were obligated to explore that. The majority thought we were going nowhere.”
Lucidi deferred comments to the board’s chief negotiator.
At the July 28 session, the board was expected to review a formal counterproposal to their proposal, which was presented March 3.
In a statement, the school board said it “has received assurance” that the union is prepared to present a formal counterproposal.
The board’s statement said that the session was scheduled because of the “commitment” from the PEA. The board members plan “to attend and actively participate” in this session, according to the statement.
The school board’s Chief Negotiator Jeffrey Sultanik toldBucksLocalNews.com that while the board members do not agree on the structure of the negotiations process (who is at the table), they are “fairly unified on the principal issues in dispute (salary and benefits).”
Regarding whether a strike is in the picture, Sultanik said, “There has been absolutely no mention of the possibility of a work stoppage and I do not believe a strike is imminent.
“We intend to work hard to negotiate a successor contract in these challenging economic times, when a strike would not be received well by the taxpayers who have been hit hard by this recession,” continued Sultanik. “I remain hopeful that the negotiations process will jump start.”
PEA President George Miller, told BucksLocalNews.com that the union is “encouraged” that the board members will come to the table.
Miller said the PEA has asked to meet face-to-face with the school board because “We believe that the school board is the only body with the ability to negotiate directly with PEA and come up with a contract under the time constraints that we are now facing.”
The PEA president said talking with school board members would be “faster. It would streamline the process.”
“With the board at the table now,” Miller said, “I have confidence that we can proceed and do exactly that.”
