NESHAMINY, Pa. – Some well-meaning people still cling to the notion that teachers union collective bargaining is healthy for public schools.

We invite them to visit Neshaminy, Pennsylvania, or at least do some research on the three-year labor standoff that has been tearing the school district and community to shreds.

Neshaminy teachers are among the most highly compensated in the state, with above-average salaries, generous insurance and retirement benefits. Their last contract expired in 2008, and they haven’t been able to negotiate a new one because the school board, battling financial problems brought on by the recession, can no longer afford extravagant compensation.

The teachers union has responded with ugly tactics, including a threat to strike and a decision to “work to contract,” which is a nice term for a general work slowdown. The community has reacted with anger toward the union’s self-serving demands, and the Philadelphia suburb has been poisoned with an environment of anger and mistrust.

“What started as a skirmish a few years ago has become an all-out war, precipitated by union misinformation, deception and malice,” one citizen wrote to a local newspaper. “In this two-sided war between an intransigent teachers union and suffering taxpayers/parents/students, there can be no sitting on the fence; we’ve advanced too far for that.

“Everyone should take a stand for what they believe in.”

Spoiled union avoiding concessions

Let’s start with a few facts:

The Neshaminy school district, like most across the nation, is facing dire financial problems. It has closed two school buildings in recent years, laid off more than 60 employees and cut several student programs, in an effort to keep up with runaway labor costs.

The Neshaminy Federation of Teachers has been working under the terms of an expired collective bargaining agreement for the past three school years. Those terms are very generous indeed.

The 675 teachers on staff are the second highest paid in the state, with an average salary of $81,816. Teachers have never had to contribute a dime toward health insurance premiums for themselves and their families. Teachers receive longevity bonuses, reimbursement for unused sick days, as well as a $27,500 cash bonus and full health coverage upon retirement.

The school board has made it very clear that the district can no longer afford lucrative labor expenses during the current economic crisis. Still, it has offered contract terms that would be considered generous in many school districts across the nation.

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So, just how important is transparency to Judge Maryann Sumi in Wisconsin?

Taxpayers trying to follow the curious case of the Madison teachers’ job action that closed down the district’s 48 schools for four days in February will get an incomplete picture from official court documents.

There is no official court record of the beginning of the February 18th court hearing during which Madison Metropolitan School District requested an injunction to end its teachers’ sickout. The MacIver News Service has learned that Dane County Circuit Court Judge Maryann Sumi began that hearing without a court reporter present.

On Friday, February 18th,the Madison sickout had been going on for three days, and the district was looking for ways to force teachers back into the classroom.

“As I understand it, MTI communicated that the teachers would be back Tuesday but had no assurances for Monday, and so the district went forward with the legal action on Friday afternoon,” wrote Ed Hughes, Madison Board of Education member, on his blog. “It took some time to find a judge who could hear the motion, but Judge Sumi took the matter on late Friday afternoon.”

Tara Monthie, a court reporter, was on her way out when she got called back to record the hearing.

“It was odd,” Monthie told the MacIver News Service. “I got there and it had already started.”

Ironically, it was Sumi, who issued a temporary restraining order blocking publication of Governor Scott Walker’s budget repair bill which restricted the collected bargaining powers of Wisconsin’s government unions. In that case she was concerned that Wisconsin’s open meetings law may have been violated during the process of passing the law (it wasn’t).

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