Big Shift in T/E Teacher Contract Talks

In a move that was immediately welcomed by the President of the Tredyffrin Easttown Education Association (TEAA) union the T/E School board is changing a major tactic at the bargaining table.

The School Board and the union have been trying to negotiate a new contract since February. With just one week week to go before classes resume, School Board Karen Cruickshank announced Monday that the board would start to have board members at the bargaining table.

That is a major shift in strategy and a change Union President Laura Whittaker has been asking for virtually since the contract talks began.

over the issue after the board voted to reject a fact finder's report that would have settled the contract.

At the August 20 meeting school board negotiator Larry Sultanik insisted that the board had had an elected representative at all the talks, stating that Superintendent Dan Waters had attended the talks. Sultanik said that under Pennsylvania law, a superintendent is considered an elected official because they are appointed by school boards.  At that meeting Whittaker shot back that Waters has never been on a ballot.

One week later Board President Karen Cruickshank announced that elected board members who have been working on the contract negotiations behind the scenes will now attend the contract talks. The announcement came at the very end of Monday's 40 minute regular school board meeting.

The union president immediately welcomed the news. Laura Whittaker told TE Patch that the shift will hopefully make it much easier to reach a compromise and settle the talks. She says that until now every time an issue was raised or an offer made the district negotiator would have to check with the board and get back to the union. Whittaker says that union leadership with the power to make decisions on the spot have been attending the contract talks along with the professional negotiator who represents the union.

Change in tone on both sides of the negotitaing table.

Whittaker says the change will hopefully make it easier for both sides to reach an agreement quickly. The announcement by Cruickshank certainly seemed to lighten the mood between both sides.

In her statement Cruickshank said "the board has pondered for quite a while about putting board members at the negotiating table.. and at the next meeting the four board members who are on the negotiating group are more than willing and looking forward to going to that negotiating session." The tone at Monday's meeting, which was not attended by the board's lawyer/negotiator, was far more conciliatory than the heated and tense August 20 special meeting when the board shot down the fact finder's report.

"We want to keep things moving toward a contract that's sustainable for the district, fair for our employees and our community as well," Cruickshank said, "so we look forward to continuing negotiations."

For the union's part, Whittaker says the members, as of Monday night, intend to be back at work when teacher's meetings begin on Wednesday of this week. Students in the district are set to return to school for the first day of classes on Tuesday, September 4. 

That is a big shift for the union who had previously hinted at the possibility of a strike during the heated days leading up to the board's August 20 vote (which ultimately rejected the fact finder's report and sent both sides back to the bargaining table). In a statement posted on the union's website Whittaker, who is a teacher at Conestoga High School said:

“Parents do not want their children’s education interrupted because of the school board’s stubborn inflexibility..”

“If the board would be reasonable and accept the impartial Fact Finder’s report, it would assure that the school year can start on time and without disruption.”

Monday night's public school board meeting had a decidely different tone. Cruikshank and Whittaker shook hands at the end of the meeting and appeared to have a brief cordial and business-like exchange as the board room was clearing.

The issue of transparency at the negotiating table has been the topic of much public discussion here on TE Patch Blogger Pattye Benson began writing about it as early as   It was the subect of a second

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