By DAN SOKIL

FRANCONIA — Area residents used the recent Souderton Area School Board meeting to speak out about the nonbinding arbitration process between the school board and the Souderton Area Education Association.

"I recently learned that our tax dollars are being used to collect union dues from teachers, which are then remitted back to the union. That seems kind of odd to me," said Mark Strong of Harleysville.

Strong was one of five school district residents asking questions along the same lines: Can the school board negotiate certain things out of the next teachers contract, which replaces one that expired June 30?

"I'm here to specifically ask the board to negotiate out of the contract the collection of compulsory union dues and mandatory deductions," said parent Jill Basile of Harleysville.

Simon Campbell of StopTeacherStrikes.org spoke about typical union tactics at a recent meeting that Basile organized, and her estimate was that at least half a dozen people at the school board meeting had taken Campbell's advice to speak out.

"I'd like to comment about the use of school administration to collect union dues," said James Drummond, also of Harleysville.

"I know it may seem like a small part of their total overhead, but to me this really blurs the line between the public school system and a private union. If non-union teachers must pay dues but are not allowed to vote, that to me really smacks of taxation without representation," Drummond said.

While some brought prepared speeches for the board, others tried to tie their pleas in with topics the board had already discussed.

"I've heard you talk about No Child Left Behind tonight, but what about no child being locked out of school? I really feel that we need to eliminate teacher strikes," Basile said.

Yet the biggest round of applause all night went to Souderton Area High School senior Logan Sutherland, who initially supported the teachers strike but has been very disappointed with teachers who refuse to help run extracurricular activities.

"I'm a college-bound senior whose acceptance depends on the fall and spring plays. Now we either won't have them at all, or they'll be run by a complete stranger," Logan said.

Sutherland also compared the rumors of teachers facing peer pressure to work to their expired contract and not take on supplemental contracts for extracurricular activities, to the peer pressure he and his fellow students face every day.

"I think, of all people, that teachers should be able to handle peer pressure. And unlike the teachers, as students we don't have the freedom to run an activity or not, because the district requires us to have an adult with us," he said.

Teacher Mike Cahill told Logan that he was sorry some activities have been canceled, and answered Campbell's claim that teachers become "mobbed up."

"I've worked in this district for 23 years, and never had any problems with my contract until this board came in. Now, the district's teachers, aides, and secretaries are all working without contracts, and they just can't seem to come to an agreement with this board," Cahill said.

Ernest Rosato of Upper Salford then shared a taxpayer's perspective with Sutherland.

"When you grow up, you're going to pay taxes, and I hope you purchase a home in this district. And if you do, I hope you'll be able to afford the real estate tax that's going to be bestowed upon you."

In response to the public comments, school board President Bernie Currie pointed out that both the school board and the teachers union have already submitted their final best offers to the arbitration panel, and no changes to those offers can be made for quite some time.

"Those subjects can be addressed during future negotiations for future contracts," Currie said. "When these negotiations started, the union's proposal to the district included more than 40 demands, or changes or improvements to the last contract.

"As we began negotiating, we mainly focused on those issues which are of a greater import, rather than overwhelm our negotiating teams with a list of 40 or 50 of our own demands."

Trying to address sticky issues like the collection of union dues this far along in the process could seriously jeopardize the chances of reaching an agreement with the SAEA, which Currie said is the board's top priority.

"The panel will make their recommendations, which most likely will not be 100 percent of either final best offer, and we have no way of knowing what that will look like," Currie said.

"At that point each of us is obligated to vote on whether to accept the recommendations of the arbitrators. If one side or the other votes not to accept those recommendations," he said, "then everything goes back into play and the whole thing starts over again."