Two very interesting situations will play out today in education circles here in Delaware County.
Teachers out in Garnet Valley, who have been working all year without a contract, will make their feelings known when they protest before a meeting of the Garnet Valley School Board.
More than 200 teachers are expected to take part in the informational picketing. They will be joined by parents.
The guess here is that they will not be joined by residents of the area's burgeoning 55-and-up communities. They've been pretty vocal in urging the school board to hold the line on taxes.
Talks between the two sides, which started in January 2014, have failed to reach a new accord. The teachers' contract expired on June 30, at the end of last school year.
State-mediated fact-finding, marathon bargaining sessions and off-the-record meetings have failed to reach a new deal.
The protest will take place at 6:15 at Concord Elementary School, on Station Road in Glen Mills, prior to the Garnet Valley School Board meeting.
In the meantime, in Rose Tree Media, a huge showing of parents is expected at tonight's Rose Tree Media School Board session to back embattled Indian Lane School Principal Bill Bennett.
Parents have engaged in a letter-writing campaign to back Bennett, who could face termination for what is being termed "persistent and willful violations" of school law. The parents don't see it that way, and say that does not describe the man they've dealt with at Indian Lane.
Here's a look at what's at stake.
Comments