Parents Irate At Neshaminy Teachers

Parents and taxpayers in the Neshaminy school district are fed up with a teachers' union after an angry meeting on Tuesday night.

Neshaminy School District held a school board meeting on Tuesday night and Fox 29’s Sharon Crowley was the only TV reporter at that heated meeting.

As Crowley reported, parents stood at the podium and told teachers to "step into the real world."

For the past two years, the teachers' union and the school district have been at odds over the teacher’s contract.

Under the old deal, teachers did not contribute any money towards their health insurance.

Nearly everyone that stepped forward and spoke Tuesday evening said it was time for teachers to contribute, especially when the district is facing a deficit  of $7 million.

Anther point of contention was the recently used bargaining tactic of work to contract utilized by the union. It called for teachers to stop providing extras such as college recommendations or extra help.

Crowley reported that the union and the school board are planning to meet for talks on June 3,  for the first time since January.

Union leaders insisted the school board were hold outs. The school board faults the union. Either way, the public is tired of finger-pointing.

The problems in the school districy made front-page news last week, when hundreds of middle school students walked out of class to protest a teacher work-to-contract action.

Students at the Maple Point Middle School in Langhorne, Pa., left their school last Thursday around 8 a.m. to protest a work-to-contract action by teachers. Groups of students at the school ran away from the buidling into a nearby woods.

Some of the young students "mooned" a Fox 29 video jourrnalist who tried to photograph them.

Then police had to go into the woods to round up the students, because teachers would not act to bring the kids back to class.