WEA Calls School Board's Negotiations 'Scare Tactics'

According to the Wissahickon Education Alliance, as part of the support union's agreement not to strike in late October, the union and the district would sit down with the Bureau of Mediation Director and hold separate mediation sessions.

According to the WEA, no school board members showed up to the mediation sessions, "The strike attorney simply used the meeting as an opportunity to put out a new press release full of nonsense," said Ann Marie McDowell, WEA Co-President.

According to the WEA website, when the union and the school board does resume bargaining, the WEA plans to pick up from where the two sides left off before fact finding, which is the March 26, 2012 proposal given to the Board. The union expects the Board to do the same thing.

According to the WEA, at the end of the mediation session, the mediator exchanged a document from the board that stated the School Board has found approximately 100 people that are willing to accept positions as a special education assistants while taking a pay cut, and without health benefits and without pension.

"In short, it’s part of the Board’s scare tactic," wrote the WEA Co-Presidents in a release on the WEA website.

Talks between the union and the School Board are schedule to resume on Dec. 6.