Nonbinding arbitration averts Delco school strike

Teachers and the school board in Delaware County's Springfield School District inched closer to a strike this week, then pulled back, agreeing to nonbinding arbitration that could take several months.

At a meeting Monday, the teachers notified the district that they would strike Friday if there were no settlement. After further discussions, the teachers proposed binding arbitration for all remaining disputes, then agreed to nonbinding arbitration, in which both sides submit their proposals and give testimony, and an arbitrator or panel of arbitrators recommends a settlement.

The union agreed to arbitration so that the "teachers will have shown the community that they are taking every step to avoid a strike," spokesman Rob Broderick said.

School board spokesman Donald Cadge said "it is in the best interest of the children" to accept arbitration, but added that the district was "extremely disappointed that the union in these hard economic times has consistently refused what we think is a more-than-reasonable offer."

The main unresolved issues between the district's 260 teachers and the board are salary, health-care premium payments, and teachers' use of noninstructional time during the school day. The teachers' contract in the 3,450-student district expired last summer.

Both sides say they are relatively close on wages and health-care issues. The most heated differences involve how teachers will be allowed to use the noninstructional time.

At the high school, Cadge said, the board wants to continue the practice of occasionally using part of teachers' nonteaching time for professional development. Broderick said the teachers' view was that the board wanted to "take part of teachers' planning time for professional development."

In the elementary schools, teachers have 50 minutes of nonteaching time. Broderick said the board wanted to cut teachers' lunch time - during which, he said, they also prepare for classes and contact parents - from 50 to 30 minutes.

Cadge said there was no contract language governing how the teachers use their noninstructional time, but state law provides for a minimum 30-minute lunch. The board would like to negotiate in a separate session this spring, he said, how "team meeting and educational duty time" would be scheduled for elementary teachers in future years.