Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Meetings between Neshaminy School Board president and teachers’ union vice president this week yielded no results, according to reports.
Neshaminy teachers have until May 22 to accept the district’s current contract offer or lose this year’s pay raise and push negotiations into another school year, according to reports. At Tuesday’s school board meeting, President Ritchie Webb and Neshaminy Federation of Teachers Vice President Anne Schmidt met privately four times over the last few weeks—most recently on Monday—yet could not find common ground, Phillyburbs.com reported. The latest board proposal to the 633-member NFT is a contract that was accepted by Council Rock teachers last year and boosts the maximum salary from $95,923 to $107,469 as well as a 5 percent increase in teacher contributions to medical care over the term of the contract, according to Buckslocalnews.com. …
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
A Neshaminy School District resident and parent asks the school board to change school's 'Redskin' mascot and logo.
At the April school board meeting, Langhorne resident Donna Boyle, who has Native-American ancestry, asked the school board to change the “Redskins” mascot, reports buckslocalnews.com. In November, Boyle had also pled her case to Neshaminy board members that it is "common belief that the word redskin is not an offensive term." In tears at the podium, Boyle, who has a son who graduated from the high school, said, "this is something I deal with every day and I don’t think my child should have to deal with it too." In a Patch poll last November, 77 percent of respondents said the Redskins mascot didn't offend them. What do you think? Leave a comment. School board President Ritchie Webb had told Boyle then at the end of the meeting that the …
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Walter Miller Elementary School raised $500 for a Bristol Township homeless shelter.
Students at Walter Miller Elementary School in the Levittown section of Middletown raised $500 for a local homeless shelter. Youngsters at the school helped organized a collection to help the Bucks County Emergency Homeless Shelter in Bristol Township. The money went to “Buck Up Bucks County.” The campaign raises money for the renovate the shelter's kitchen and is sponsored by the Bucks County Courier Times newspaper. "Students in our fourth grade created posters and did daily announcements to promote “Crazy Hat Day,” according to a release from the Neshaminy School District. Students in second grade performed random acts of kindness to help raise money for the shelter, the district said. As of Monday night, the campaign is reported to …
Friday, February 22, 2013
Artwork for three Neshaminy High School students will be displayed for the public.
Three Neshaminy High School students will have paintings displayed in the 2013 PSEA Annual Touch The Future Student Art Exhibition. The district said art teacher Terry O’Neill announced the following students paintings were juried into the show: The artwork will be displayed at the show starting this Sunday. The show is being held at Arcadia University, 405 S. Easton Road, Glenside, PA in the University Commons Building, Art Gallery, and Great Room Lobby.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Neshaminy students are getting the chance to talk with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.
- NEWS
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Wednesday, February 20
The Business Computer and Information Technology Department (BCIT) of Neshaminy Middle Schools, with the support of the library media specialists, will be conducting video conferences with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. The purpose of this project is to expose and engage our middle level students to applied media technology. Representatives from Rock Hall will lead the conference for our students in real time. Students will explore entrepreneurship skills by simulating their role as a tour manager for a fictional band and make key economic decisions with the goal of realizing maximum profits. Students will be asked to collaborate on real-world business decisions that comprise of marketing strategies, economic outcomes, …
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Neshaminy teacher who was fired after she was accused of shoplifting must be reinstated, a judge recently ruled.
- SCHOOLS
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Tuesday, February 19
A judge recently ruled that Maple Point Middle School teacher Tara Buskewas must be reinstated to her position by the end of the month. However, the Neshaminy School District has filed an appeal in Commonwealth Court to protest the judge's decision, PhillyBurbs.com reports. Richie Webb, school board president, told the website the judge should have not heard her appeal. He said she invoked her right to appeal the decision to either the school board or courts. "The law allows her to choose one or the other, but not both. She chose the former," Webb said in a June 2012 press release. Buskewas was arrested and charged with retail theft and receiving stolen property in 2012 and took part in a Accelerated Rehabilitation Disposition program, …
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Former school board member William O’Connor submitted this letter on the MaST Charter School application.
- OPINION
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Wednesday, February 13
Editor's Note: The following was submitted by former member of the Neshaminy School Board William O'Connor. He wrote down his personal views to be read into the record at Monday night's MaST Charter School hearing. O'Connor let us publish his remarks. A charter school is a lot like the back-up quarterback on a football team. Nobody knows they’re even around if the team is winning, but once fans see their team faltering, then everyone wants to give the #2 guy a chance to see what they can do. Such is the case with Neshaminy, where many parents are losing faith in our public education because of years of contract strife and power struggles with our teachers’ union. They see this as an opportunity to try something different, in hopes the …
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
According to a Neshaminy School Board vote, MaST Charter School will not be coming to the district.
In a 4-3 vote on Monday night, the Neshaminy School Board denied MaST Charter School’s application to open a K-12 school within the district borders. Dozens of district taxpayers filled the board room at the administrative offices. Residents both for an opposed to the charter facility spoke during the hearing. In the end, board members Ritchie Webb, Irene Boyle, Mark Shubin and Scott Congdon voted against the application, while William Oettinger, Mike Morris and Anthony Sposato voted for it. Board members Kim Koutsouradis and Susan Cummings were absent from the meeting. Webb, board president, said after the meeting that the charter school not having a finalized location in the district was one of several reasons he voted against the …
Friday, February 8, 2013
Crews are working to take down the former Neshaminy Middle School in Middletown.
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Thursday, February 7, 2013
Negotiations between the district and Neshaminy Federation of Teachers fell apart Wednesday night.
An end to the Neshaminy School District labor dispute does not appear any closer after Wednesday night's negotiation session, according to statements from the teacher's union and school board. "In a very disappointing turn of events, the School Board suddenly announced its intention to cease any further bargaining regarding the unresolved issues," a statement from the Neshaminy Federation of Teachers read. The school board's offer is based on the Council Rock School District contract. The contract, which was signed by Council Rock teachers in 2012, is the basis for Neshaminy's salary and working conditions proposal for teaching staff. The proposed contract eliminates provisions including equal say and past practice - two items that school …
Sean Hoffmann
1:21 pm on Wednesday, May 15, 2013
What the article above (and every local news outlet) fails to illustrate is that the contract negotiations at this point are not about money. The teachers are willing to accept nearly all of the school board's financial proposals INCLUDING PAYING FOR THEIR HEALTHCARE (this also includes drastic reductions in the quality of both health and life insurance that they receive). Additionally, the … more ›