North Penn, teachers to meet today

With a week left before the first day of school, the North Penn School District and its teachers union are set to meet this afternoon for an eleventh-hour contract bargaining session.Each side has said there is room for negotiation, though publicly they appear locked into their original proposals. Teachers are still asking for a 3.5 percent raise in the first year and 4 percent raises in the second and third years of the contract, plus step increases for seniority and education. They also want guarantees that the district will honor a list of working conditions and not change their current health care plan, for which teachers now pay 10 percent of the premium. The school board is proposing no raises the first year except step increases, which translate to a 1.87 percent increase for 67 percent of the teaching staff, and a 1 percent cost-of-living raise in the second year plus step increases. The district's salary increases would total about $3.4 million over two years, while the union's wage proposal would total $13 million over three. The board is also asking teachers to pay 15 percent of their health care premiums starting in the contract's second year. The union's demands on working conditions have evolved, but teachers have agreed to back off class-size limits, said Alan Malachowski, president of the North Penn Education Association teachers union. A request for more preparation time is still a priority on par with salary and benefits, he said. Because the instructional day will be 20 minutes longer at the elementary schools this year, teachers need time to return parent e-mails, hold meetings and fulfill accountability requirements, Malachowski said. While the current contract guarantees prep time, it doesn't allow for it on a daily basis. The union wants its new contract to secure a daily planning slot - 45 minutes for elementary school teachers, and a full period for instructors at the middle and high schools. The teachers union is also asking for:? Up to four full days of urgent personal leave per year, without reason, with the superintendent's permission.? Reimbursement for pre-approved online graduate course credits.? Paid military leave, and an assurance that teachers can go back to their original positions upon return;? At least a 15-minute break - not to be included in the 30-minute lunch break - for every 190 consecutive minutes with students.? $60 per hour for up to two hours, and $30 an hour after that, for supervising school activities such as concerts, club activities and athletic events. (The current rate is $55 per event.)In addition to asking teachers to pay more toward their health plan, North Penn wants to put teachers on a three-tier prescription plan where generic drugs will cost $10, name brands $30, and non-formulary drugs $50. Teachers want to stick with their two-tier plan, which doesn't include a formulary list, Malachowski said. Fertility drugs are specifically excluded in the district's offer, but that hasn't come up yet in the bargaining sessions, he said. The North Penn Education Association meets Wednesday to discuss the status of negotiations. The 1,070 union teachers can choose to accept the district's offer, return to school under the terms of their old contract while continuing to bargain, or vote to strike. Today is the day to sit down and work things out, Malachowski said. "We realize it's crunch time. We realize it's time to get this done," he said.North Penn contends that its proposal would raise taxes just under 2.5 percent over the next two years, while the union's would cost $20.6 million - including $2.6 million a year for working condition changes - and raise taxes 12 percent over the next three.Donald Hill, a school board member on the negotiations team, said North Penn came to its $2.6 million figure by putting a price estimate on each working condition. Those individual costs won't be disclosed to teachers or the public, he said; the district doesn't want negotiations to turn into a debate over what costs how much."We weren't interested in discussing any of those issues, period," Hill said. "We want that whole thing gone." Annie Tasker can be reached at 215-345-3187 or atasker@phillyBurbs.com.

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