September 22, 2010

Words were pointed but civil during the Sept. 20
Unionville-Chadds Ford School Board meeting with board member Jeff Leiser
rebuffing allegations that the board has been acting in bad faith.

Members of the Unionville-Chadds Ford Education Association
have challenged the board’s representation of the contract proposals made by
both sides. The teachers are currently working under the terms of the contract
that expired in June.

“The school board has been charged with not negotiating in
good faith,” Leiser said. “I respectfully disagree…I believe good faith means
listening respectfully to each other, trying to understand each side’s needs
and developing a mutually beneficial proposal.

“A proposal is mutually beneficial if it meets the
educational needs of our students [with] a fair and competitive compensation
package for our teachers and is economically sustainable to our taxpayers. The
association’s demands, as they stand today, are not economically sustainable,”
Leiser said.

He said that if the board gave in to the association’s
current request, it would have a hard time trying to balance future budgets.
The board would have to decide whether to lay off teachers and staff, add to
class size above current guidelines, cut extracurricular programs or try to
raise taxes above legal limits.

Leiser then cited the harsh economic realities of layoffs,
and pay and benefit cuts faced by many residents in the district.

“Few have a fine retirement plan like our teachers do…Is it
fair to our neighbors to heap an additional financial burden on them? Or, do we
want to risk diminishing the excellence in education within the
Unionville-Chadds Ford School District?

“I’m called upon to fulfill my fiduciary responsibilities as
a school board member. I want to express my support for the School Board’s
offer. It offers a compensation package that escalates better than most ever
see in the private sector,” Leisr said.

Pat Clark, Unionville-Chadds Ford Education Association
president said, “Our school teachers are not the greedy villains that some
people portray us to be. Our teachers have families and they have expenses and
they have bills that they must pay as well… We believe we do a quality job,
perhaps the best job in Pennsylvania, and we believe that we have the right to
ask that we be compensated in that manner.”

Beginning teachers—based on the 2009-2010 contract—get a
salary of more than $47,743, the highest amount in 13 Chester County school
districts. The highest paid teachers in U-CF get a salary of $101,427, the
fourth highest among the same 13 districts. The average salary is $74,798. With
benefits that package costs the district $97,092.

The above figures are based on a board statement that can be
found at http://www.ucfsd.org/pdf/091310nn.pdf

The proposals on that site indicate the board is offering an
increase of 1.8 percent for each of the first two years of a four-year
contract, no increase the third year, but a 3.8 increase in year four.

The union’s counter proposal, according to the statement,
shows the association asking for a 5 percent increase in year one, a 4.7
percent increase the second year, 4.6 percent in years three and four.

According to Clark, though, “The School Board’s numbers are
somewhat misleading. The 1.8 percent increase is not for every teacher. The prep costs (for advanced classes
teachers take) do not go for every teacher. We’re looking at a situation where
some of our best and most experienced teachers will get no raise for three
years.”

He said the prep movement is usually covered by attrition,
something the board has traditionally supported.

“We have come to the table in good faith and we understand
that the children are the most important asset…but it is time to get a contract
done for the good of the community and the good of the children,” Clark said.

Clark also said the two sides hadn’t met since May. Board
member Frank Murphy denied that assertion.

Murphy said there have been numerous e-mails exchanged
between the negotiators and the board has met whenever the association asked.

“This is not a situation where one party wants to meet and
the other doesn’t,” Murphy said. “…The board stands ready to meet with you. You
stand ready to meet with us. I believe our negotiators are going back and forth
on a date, a time and a place. So I think we’ll be meeting pretty soon.”

He added that prep raises are included in the board’s figures.

Roughly 14 residents spoke during the session, with most of
the residents siding with the board’s position.

Malcolm Watts, of East Marlborough Township said the
teachers were lucky to have jobs. He said his daughter, also a teacher, but in
another district, earned a teacher of the month award in April, but was laid
off at the end of the last school year.

“I think it’s a bit audacious asking for any raise at all at
this time, rather than just being glad you have a job.” Watts said. “In the
last decade, the millage rate has gone up close to 5 percent. This is certainly
well above inflation and cost of living indexes, and again you’re asking for
more. It doesn’t sit well.”

Gordon Wilkes, also of East Marlborough Township, handed out
a comparison of teachers’ salaries. It indicates 35 percent of U-CF teachers
earn $80,000 or more per year, while the average in other districts is only 15
percent.

“We are paying a lot, and I support the gracious offer the
board has made. I did not get a pay raise this year…I think the School Board
has made a very good offer,” Wilkes said.

Andrea Clifford, another resident, said the teachers were
fortunate to have jobs, that they are paid well and should be glad that they don’t
have to deal with an inner city environment with police in the hallways.

Elizabeth Jones, of Newlin Township, said the teachers do an
excellent job, but urged a compromise.

“I applaud the teachers… Somewhere, somehow there’s a
compromise… We should pay them,” she said.

Beverly Brooks, of Pennsbury Township also spoke in favor of
the teachers.

It’s been a long and winding road for Calvary Chapel. While
it’s normally a 15-20 minute drive from Media to Chadds Ford, it took seven
years for the church to make the trip and open its doors for worship.

Pastor Bob Guaglione, in January 2003, walked the grounds of
a property along Brandywine Drive in Chadds Ford Township and wanted to bring
his church there. The church bought the property later that year and began the
process of getting township approval for construction. There was a conditional
use hearing and the usual land development protocols to be negotiated. Final
approvals came in October 2008. Ground was broken in 2009 and the church opened
its doors for real earlier this year.

When the Chadds Ford Township Board of Supervisors gave
their approval during the October 2008 meeting, one resident shouted,
“Hallelujah.”

She’s not a
member of Calvary, but understood and appreciated the bureaucratic journey the
church had gone through. Now the church is a part of the Chadds Ford landscape,
on several levels. In addition to a place of worship, Calvary Chapel is now the
new polling place for voting in Chadds Ford Township.

“We want the church to be a blessing to the community,”
Associate Pastor Steve Smickley recently said.

In the beginning, opponents of the church were concerned
about excessive noise, but many of the items on the initial plan were removed
from the table. Gone were the proposed softball fields and basketball court,
and gone was the proposed outdoor amphitheater.

There was also a compromise on a property setback where the
church property abuts Harvey Lane.

“When we first came into the meetings with a concept land
development plan, it was strictly a concept,” Smickley said.

The footprint now is 18,000 square feet and the entire
three-story building is 36,000 square feet. Any further construction, Smickley
said would be toward the Endo building on Brandywine Drive, but would stay
within the confines of the church’s driveway.

Calvary Chapel has 1,200 members. With a 905-seat sanctuary,
there are two worship services each Sunday on the 18-acre site. The church also
owns another 4-acre site across Brandywine Drive.

In addition to the two worship services, there are events
for youth on Wednesday evenings and every other Friday.

While the church will be used as a polling place, Guaglione
said the primary mission of the church, and the best way it can be a blessing
to the community, is as a church.

“Our job is to see people get to heaven,” Guaglione said.

He said Calvary Chapel ministers to many people who have had
life changing experiences, those who didn’t go to church but were looking for
one. People, he said, who had an “encounter with Christ and their life has been
changed.”

Some of them, he said, are professionals—doctors and
lawyers— who previously had drug and alcohol problems, or were involved with
pornography, who have turned their lives around.

“Maybe, in the community, we turn a drunk driver into an
average citizen.” Guaglione said. “Our mission is for people to find Christ.”

Calvary Chapel is a nation-wide nondenominational Christian
Evangelical church. The local Delaware County branch began in the early 1990s
in Ridley Park. Prior to moving into the Chadds Ford building, the church held
services is the old Media Theater.

Bella is a 4 year old spayed female
domestic short hair dilute tortie that is available for adoption through the Chester County SPCA. She came to the shelter
in July because her owner was moving and could not take her along. She has
lived with dogs, young children and other cats and enjoys all of their company.
Bella is front declawed and loves attention and is more than happy to sit and
your lap and talk to you.The Chester County SPCA is
offering special adoption incentives until September 30, for all of our feline
residents. All cats under the age of 3 qualify for our “More Two
Love” adoption program. Adopt
one cat at the regular adoption fee of $75 and take home another feline friend
for a donation of only $10! All of our more experienced feline residents (over
the age of 3) are available for $1.00 as part of our “One and Only”
adoption incentive! Bella and her friends are
now looking for a responsible care giver who will give them the love and
attention they deserve. If you are
able to provide that home, visit the Chester County SPCA at 1212 Phoenixville
Pike in West Goshen or call 610-692-6113. Bella’s registration number is 96800446.
To look at some of the other animals available for adoption, visit the shelter
or log onto www.ccspca.org.