Think Of The Kids

Local PA stuff coming up...

I've tried my best to stay out the teacher's strike in Bucks County's Pennsbury school district where I live, but I want to direct the title of this post to Nyla Houser, head of the teacher's union (related article on proposed legislation by Senate Minority Leader Robert J. Mellow here - registration required).

I think Mellow's bill goes a little too far; I would allow the teachers to strike no more than once per year. The unions will never relinquish that right.

However, this wouldn't even be a point of discussion if it weren't for the behavior of both sides in this dispute. A tentative contract deal had been reached last August, but the membership voted it down. To make matters worse, the school board then reduced its offer to the union, making the strike inevitable.

We pay school taxes, but this doesn't affect us beyond that (though that's a big impact by itself). However, we know of the sacrifices that parents in this area have made for their kids due to the first strike earlier this year, and nobody wants to see them have to do through that again.

Also, suppose you're a senior trying to finish up and also get accepted at a college and all of this is playing out not once in a school year, but twice. That's ridiculous. Also, the invective on both sides, plainly visible in Letters To The Editor and Guest Opinions in the Bucks County Courier Times, has been pretty dramatic.

If somehow the latest offer isn't accepted by the teachers, then nonbinding arbitration should continue for as long as necessary while the teachers go back to work. It's cruel and stupid for this to play out any other way than that.