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First Posted: 3/20/2014 Abington Heights Superintendent of Schools Dr. Michael Mahon reported at the March 19 business meeting that administration has begun taking steps to lessen the effects of the teacher&#8217;s union decision on students in the district.
According to Mahon, teachers have &#8220;locked out&#8221; students from their classrooms before the official start of the school day, while others have refused to write letters of recommendations.
&#8220;We had situations where teachers were deciding to lock kids out of their classrooms, leaving 1,100 kids in the hallway,&#8221; Mahon said. &#8220;That is not something they can do with respect to their bargaining contract and not have consequences. In the past, teachers, prior to the start of the school day, opened their doors and allowed students to enter their classrooms. Without notice, the union orchestrated a lock out. Nearly, and probably all staff members locked themselves in their rooms. Only at the stroke of contractual time, were the doors opened so students could come in. In this matter, the union clearly stepped over the line.&#8221;
According to Abington Heights Teacher&#8217;s Union President Jim Maria, teachers are not required to open their doors prior to the start of classes.
&#8220;All that happened on those days was the teachers didn&#8217;t open their doors until 8:10 a.m.,&#8221; he said. &#8220;They didn&#8217;t lock the students out.&#8221;
Mahon sent a memo to Maria on March 12 stating that teachers locking students out of their classrooms as a negotating tactic prior to the start of the official school day is &#8220;unacceptable and will not be tolerated.&#8221;
Also in the memo, Mahon said, effective March 13, all classroom doors will be unlocked at 7:50 a.m., and any teacher who locks their door will be &#8220;subject to immediate disciplinary action.&#8221;
According to Mahon, in many cases the teachers are inside the rooms, however they are not required to be present.
&#8220;If a teacher decides to be somewhere else, that is not something the district can control,&#8221; he said.
Another issue of concern for Mahon stem from reports that some teachers are refusing to write letters of recommendation for students to use for college admission.
&#8220;We received one report, for sure, that we have investigated and we will investigate any additional reports of teachers who deny a recommendation to a student,&#8221; Mahon said. &#8220;Students absolutely need a letter of recommendation, many times, to get into college. They would be profoundly disadvantaged not being able to have these letters. While I will not say that every student is entitled to a letter of recommendation, I will also say that as far as a professional teacher in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania&#8217;s obligations, they may not collectively say we&#8217;re not doing recommendations for kids. It&#8217;s an issue we believe is critically important to our students.&#8221;
Maria doesn&#8217;t believe the staff is outside of their bounds in denying recommendations.
&#8220;It&#8217;s one of the things we&#8217;re choosing not to do until we get a contract,&#8221; Maria said, &#8220;and we think we&#8217;re well within our purview.&#8221;
According to Mahon, despite the district&#8217;s best efforts, there will be loss of opportunities, such as end-of-the-year field trips and after-school activities after Maria announced teachers will not be involved with activities outside of their seven-hour-and fifteen minute school day.
&#8220;Since it is not unreasonable to suspect the current bargaining impasse will continue well into the coming years, sadly administration intends to begin the process of reaching out to the community to fill the voids left by what we perceive as our teacher&#8217;s unions actions,&#8221; Mahon said. &#8220;We may have to look for willing members of the community to teach an (after-school) class.&#8221;
Abington Heights teachers have been working without a contract since their last one expired on Aug. 31, 2011.
&#8220;Both parties are working really hard at it,&#8221; Mahon said. &#8220;We&#8217;ve not been able to come to a deal. It&#8217;s a very hard time, financially, for boards to come up with the amount of resources that the teachers are asking for. While everyone continues to work, we are not close at this point, which I think is part of the reason the teacher&#8217;s union has been responding as it has been.&#8221;
While Maria admitted that &#8220;quite a bit&#8221; of progress was made in negotiations throughout the summer and up to the start of the New Year, both side are currently at a &#8220;crossroads over a difference of opinions.&#8221;
&#8220;There is $500,000 of savings in health care and pension costs on the table that we would like to give them (the district), but they&#8217;re stalling over retroactive pay from the last two years.&#8221;
In response to questions regarding the status of security and crisis management plans in the district, Mahon assured the public that the administration works closely with trained professionals and has the best interest of students in mind.
&#8220;We have buildings full of people who are profoundly concerned about the safety of students,&#8221; he said. &#8220;All of our regional police chiefs meet with our administrators once per month, and any time we have a crisis, such as a bomb scare, we rely heavily on input from local law enforcement and regional experts at the local, county, and state level.&#8221;

Teachers scaling back services due to contract dispute