By: Dan Sokil

FRANCONIA TWP — Thursday night’s Souderton Area school board meeting ended early and abruptly, as a large and loud contingent of district teachers walked out on board president Bernie Currie.

“I’m kind of disappointed that we’ve provided them with this opportunity to address the board, but when faced with something they don’t want to hear they walk out,” Currie said after the meeting.

The walkout occurred as Currie tried to address comments made by several of the teachers regarding the current contract negotiations between the school board and the district teachers’ union.

“I think it’s important to put some balance into some of the statements we’ve heard,” Currie said. “One of the continuing refrains we’ve heard from the beginning of the negotiations was that Souderton Area’s teachers are paid the lowest starting salary in Montgomery County. That’s one fact, but there are other parts of the story that have never been stated or told.”

Two contracts ago, a previous school board agreed to offer a certain pool of money to district teachers in order to reach a settlement, Currie said, which the leadership of the teachers’ union then decided how to allocate.

“The leadership of the union saw it as their prerogative to rearrange the salary schedule, and took some $1,000 per year for each of three years from the starting salaries and added it to other steps of the columns where some of the negotiators then stood,” Currie said.

“So while all of these rocks are being thrown at the school board, it was the teachers who did that at the time,” he said, before one teacher rose to leave the meeting and the rest followed.

Several of the teachers had previously spoken during the meeting’s public comment portion, largely emphasizing their worries over the future of their own children.

“One of the many reasons I decided to stay within the Souderton school district and teach here was to raise a family. I have three children, so I’m looking forward to sixteen years of quality education in the district,” said Indian Valley Middle School science teacher Jen Odenwald.

“The other day, I noticed a wonderful substitute teacher, who I approached because he seemed really organized, enthusiastic, and really got through to the kids,” Odenwald continued. “Within a minute and a half of conversation, I found out he has absolutely no interest in teaching full time for the Souderton Area School District because of this situation.”

Oak Ridge Elementary School third-grade teacher Ross Pollack said he was “scared to death” about the direction the district is going, and that he worried only poor quality teachers will be left by the time his 1-year old daughter attends school.

“Souderton’s mission statement says part of our job is to prepare students to compete in a challenging world, but if Souderton can’t compete with the teacher salaries in the county, how can they prepare students for that challenging world?” Pollack said.

Each of the teachers’ comments received sustained applause from their fellow educators, whereas resident Charl Wellener was met with silence after asking why teachers equate dedication with higher salaries.

“In the current economic situation, I still find it appalling that the teachers continue to want what they want ,” she said.

But it was high school senior Shelby Kay-Fantozzi who made the most emotional comments of the night, describing the morale of her fellow high school students.

“Many students are angry or stressed, and naturally are going to take their feelings out on each other,” Kay-Fantozzi said. “I am afraid of walking into my high school every day. I fear angry students, that fear is very real to me, but you don’t live my reality. None of you walk the halls of that school every day, and how many more brilliant minds are you willing to break?

“The student body needs help. We’re very tired of being stuck in the middle. Please end this now before things get even worse,” she said.