FRANCONIA — The school board said yes, and now it’s all up to the teachers.

By a unanimous 9-0 vote, the Souderton Area School Board voted Thursday night to accept the nonbinding arbitration report that could bring an end to the district’s nearly year-long contract dispute.


“We’re not going to ask for comment on tonight’s resolution, because the teachers’ union has yet to vote on this,” said school board President Bernie Currie.

The Thursday night vote could bring an end to the contract dispute that began last summer, when the contracts for the district’s teachers, secretaries and aides expired on June 30.

“As soon as we know how the other side has voted, and that all of the legal requirements have been fulfilled, more information (on the report’s content) will be available,” Currie said.

That vote is expected to come Friday afternoon, during a general membership meeting of the Souderton Area Education Association.

“The ball’s in their court now,” district solicitor Jeffrey Sultanik said Thursday.

Agreements were reached between the district and the aides and secretaries’ unions earlier this month, but Currie said Thursday those deals did not affect the vote on the arbitration report.

“They were pretty much separate issues; both of those contracts kind of stood on their own,” he said.

The secretaries and aides ultimately did not strike.

The district and teachers union agreed to enter a nonbinding arbitration process in September 2008, after a 15-day strike by the teachers.

At that time, the three person arbitration panel was named, consisting of one interest arbitrator on behalf of each side and one neutral arbitrator.

Although details of the report won’t be made public until after the teachers vote today, one resident applauded the board’s vote Thursday.

“I’d just like to thank the current school board for continuing to be steadfast, in keeping not only the interests of taxpayers, but the interests of children, the interests of teachers, the interests of everyone in the community in their hearts,” said Souderton resident Charl Wellener.

“They’ve been up against a multimillion dollar union who will continue to throw children out on the streets, and hold taxpayers hostage to get what they think is fair, so I’d like to thank the board. We don’t know what the number is yet, but I hope it’s something we can afford,” she said.