Residents Grill School Board on Teacher Contract Negotiations, Coach's Departure

Dozens of community members questioned the Monday on the status of the nearly as well as the recent departure of a coach.

Superintendent Curtis Griffin said district administrators met last week with union representatives and, while no final contract proposal was agreed upon, Griffin said he “felt very good” about the meeting.

Leslie Jones, the parent of a Hatboro-Horsham High School sophomore, addressed the board during the comment period about the stalled negotiations, urging the district to move swiftly to put in place a new contract and work toward a compromise. 

“I am extremely disappointed in the school board’s failure to come up with a fair proposal,” she said, noting that the negotiations updates posted on the district Web site give the “impression that the teachers are unreasonable and undeserving."

"I truly hope it is not your strategy to demonize teachers in the press and demoralize what you have to offer, although it does appear that way," Jones said. "Ask yourself if you were in their shoes, what would you do? If you value quality education, then you will work harder in crafting a fair contract proposal and at getting your educational priorities in order.”

Jones referenced the current proposal to install artificial turf on the district’s playing fields as a distraction from the negotiations, a sentiment echoed by Dorothy Spiewak, who urged the board again, following similar sentiments made at previous meetings, to vote no on the proposal.

The board did not vote on the turf proposal or provide a timeline for a potential vote. Bids were solicited through March 31 and school board officials have said previously that the board would consider taking action in April. 

A number of residents spoke in support of former Hatboro-Horsham high school cross-country coach Bob Ayton, saying he was abruptly terminated last week.

Bob Stasiunas, a 2003 graduate, called Ayton a “great man” and successful coach, and said the termination was inexplicable.

“When I heard he was no longer coaching, I thought that there was no way the team did so poorly as to warrant his termination. It didn’t. Then I thought there was no way his athletes or their parents disliked him so much as to demand a personnel change. They didn’t,” Stasiunas said. “I figured there was no way that any athletic department could be so short-sighted to let a man like him go. It was.”

Following the meeting, board president Barbara LaSorsa said that while “there is a lot of talk of him being let go, that’s not what I understand to have happened.”

A number of other personnel changes were approved at the meeting, along with the presentation of an athletic award to senior for the numerous successes he’s brought to the school’s wrestling team.

The board presented its proposed academic calendar for the 2011-12 school year, with some changes in store next year to accommodate the numerous holidays that fall on weekends. The traditional in-service day in March would be moved to the following month, allowing for a full week of spring break near Easter. The board will officially vote on the proposal at the next meeting.

Dave Weber, assistant director of curriculum, spearheaded a presentation on the Keystone Exams, a state-led initiative being unrolled gradually over the next few years. The recent state budget proposal slashed $20 million from the program, which will slow the field tests for the different exams.

The program will ultimately, potentially for the class of 2017, require students to pass six of 10 Keystone Exams — including two English exams, two mathematics exams, one science and one social studies for high-school graduation.