Why is Heidi Adsett on the Board? If it's just to "union bust" she need to step down.

She really does. Her "concern" for teachers is a veneer for her attempt to union bust. She is the reason that teachers need a union. She adds no value.

What is wrong with you radical liberals? Suggesting that each individual employee be allowed to freely choose whether or not he or she wishes to financially support the Union is a matter of individual liberty, personal choice, and freedom of association. Forcing non-Union support staff employees to pay Union dues to keep their jobs is revolting. You radical Union types clearly hate the Constitution. Shame on those eight Board Directors who violated their oath of office by supporting this tyranny. Donna Pasquini Glavin, you need to step down from being an American citizen and move to Cuba. RoxyD, your support for forced Unionism adds no value to the First Amendment. Maybe I'll raid your paycheck to collect some forced dues to go to me since I've decided that I benefit you ...just to see how you like it.

Who are you Simon to pass judgement? It's really none of your business and the only people that support you are mentally unstable. I guess birds of a feather... It's surprising that absolutely no teachers want your help to free them from the union shackles. Oh wait, there is one (although you always try to make it look like there are more). Just like your lame organization. You would think you'd find something more constructive to do that argue with people online all day. Your cause is hogwash!

Name calling yet again. How appalling and predictable. You cannot defend the coercion of forced Unionism ...which is everyone's business because it violates the very idea of liberty upon which this nation was founded. It is your cause of electing far-left extremists to the school board who support strikes against children & taxpayers, and forced Union dues for employees that is hogwash.

Nothing, not even one poor teacher bound and chained by union thugs? I guess you can't really defend your defense of forced unionism. You, sir, are the only one trying to invoke a strike. I'd say better luck in your own district, but I see they are working hard to clean up the mess they made by electing you.

Heidi Adsett is clear, speaking for individual choice against coerced collectivism. All good to her. “

I cannot support any contract that involves forced unionism,” Adsett said. “It is my belief that that decision should be left up to the employee.”

Individual teachers cannot negotiate their own contracts. Teachers don't have to join the union but the do have to pay a fair share fee for having the union negotiate for them. It's how it is done in Pennsylvania. Go to Harrisburg and complain. You are barking up the wrong tree. You are doing nothing but wasting your time. If the teachers don't want to be in the union they can go to private or charter schools.

It is absolutely our business as we pay your salary Roxy. If you don't want the public to weigh in on these issues you too could go to a private or charter school. If unions are so great why do they need to force people to pay into the system? It's extortion, plain and simple. Unions only protect bad teachers. You seem to like the union a lot Roxy, I guess we know just how good you are at your job.

Morons like Heidi Adsett, Simon Campbell, and Bob Guzzardi do not realize this legislation comes from Harrisburg! They are so stupid they think they are going to change things politically on the school board! This shows their incompetence and lack of understanding how a school board functions. Maybe they should go back to making inappropriate "videos". Find a hobby morons!

You are right Steve. The right to strike while he hates it, is legal. So therefore the way to change it is through state action. Nobody is going to write such language into a contract. How ridiculous. That could be challenged legally and I dare say would be overturned. The pension is under state control as well, and is actually part of the state Constitution. Does it need reform, yep, but to lay it at the feet of the teachers and the negotiating process locally is foolish. And has he polled the WCASD teachers? Do they want out of the union? How many fair share members are there? In this contentious environment my guess is more would want to be full members than not. If the union has all this "power" that many on here post about why would anyone not want to be a member. According to these people the union basically rules the world. What a riot.

What lacks in all of this is that a school is much more than teachers and unions. Yes, the largest part of budget is personnel, no kidding. Human capital is essential. But there are many other costs involved in education.
Mr. Campbell how about posting the numbers associated with your district, your test scores, your AYP scores, your literacy goals, your plans to implement the Common Core etc. How do you keep up. I go to meetings in my district and I am very impressed with the teachers and administrators here. Why do you and others want to derail our success? I think the adults here can speak for themselves.

Simon Campbell has repeatedly made the point that local school districts have the power to eliminate forced unionism as well as automatic deductions by contract.

You are right that eliminating teacher strikes are a state issue as are pensions. This article contains the numbers related to both Pennsylvania Pension Liabilities. As far as I know, no one disputes these numbers and they may even be worse because there is an expected rate of return of 7.5% which may be unrealistic.

"The Office of the Budget projects a $41 billion unfunded liability for the pension systems that include teachers and state workers. Trying to cut pension costs would pit Corbett against public-sector unions, which are among the state’s most influential interest groups. Corbett, however, said the first hurdle is the Republican-controlled General Assembly.

The governor’s office issued a recent report citing “staggering” pension costs that more than doubled in the past two years. Pensions for state and school employees cost taxpayers $1.5 billion this year and will rise to $2.2 billion in 2013 and $5.16 billion in 2019-20, Budget Secretary Charles Zogby said. "

Read more: http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/3069498-74/corbett-pension-state-costs-leaders-public-budget-gov-pennsylvania-billion#ixzz2EBKVCqG6

More Pennsylvania budget challenges:” … a report released last month by the state Independent Fiscal Office projected $832 million in revenue growth in the current budget.

The same report projected increased pension costs to consume $500 million of that growth — with overall costs climbing from $1.1 billion to $1.6 billion — while medical assistance payments would eat another $100 million of it as they climb from $4.8 billion to $4.9 billion."

READ More PaIndependent 4 December 2012 Pennsylvania Budget Outlook Not Rosy http://paindependent.com/2012/12/smith-budget-outlook-not-rosy-or-easy

In 2010, The Republican General Assembly and the Republican Governor, conniving with Union Organizers failed to address the underfunded pension problem in 2010 with the Kick the Can Down the Road Act 120 of 2010.

There is no reason to think Republican House and Senate leadership will not sell out The Forgotten Taxpayer again.

READ MORE http://www.scribd.com/doc/114512706/Act-120-of-2010-Kick-the-Can-Down-the-Road-Pretending-to-be-Pension-Reform (163 words).

As one who believes in fairness and equality, I am beginning to see the fairness of redistribution of wealth as put forth by President Obama. The president wants to nationalize all 401K and IRA so that they can be equally distributed through a new Retirement Program. Since the teacher's pensions have been funded by taxpayers and since many of these taxpayers (or even non-taxpayers) do not have such a pension, it would be only fair that the next step for redistrbution would be to have the Teacher's Pensions nationalized and redistributed to the general public. Also why is the West Chester School Board negotiating on a Health Care Contract with the union. The union was for ObamaCare, therefore, the teachers should be enrolled in ObamaCare.

You do realize that 7.5% of our pay is deducted for our retirement. We have no choice. Believe me, I'd much rather invest that money myself, but again, Helen and Star, I have to choice. PA legislation dictates that I am forced to pay into the PSERS retirement system. So instead of bashing teachers and stating that we are the who created this fiasco, do some research. Really, your anger should be with the legislators, not the teachers. If I was a 1%er of the middle class, Star, I would be able to afford to live in a nice place like Hershey Mills where most of the people who come to the board meeting whining that they can't their kid's mortgages.

I live on a teacher's salary; I am hardly a ..what did you call us again, oh yes a "1%'ers of the middle class". What a joke! You have proven, yet again, how ill informed you really are.

What do you think Obamacare is? It is not some nationalized health care program. We do not have single payer. Obamacare simply requires all to have insurance and for employers who employ more than 50 people to provide it. Yes, more to it than that. However the teachers in West Chester to pay to their cost - you can argue they should pay more, but that may be the end of your argument.

The Forgotten Taxpayer pays ALL costs of the unionized government K-12 system for a total of $26 BBillion dollars. Who speaks for The Forgotten Taxpayer? Not the Unionists. Not the Teachers. Not even the Republicans. Coerced Collectivism, Unionism, drives up the ever escalating cost of government.

And then there is this the matter of an individual's Constitutional and God given Liberty that Coerced Collectivism and Unionism subvert.

Heidi Adsett and Simon Campbell speak proudly and publicly for individual Liberty and The Forgotten Taxpayer.

What are we teaching our children when we force individuals to join a union in order to engage in their chosen work? We teach them that might makes right. We teach them that the individual has to submit to the collective will. We undermine individual dignity and individual autonomy. An individual is created with Free Will. Collectivism stands against that Free Will.

edufan, I realize that it is the legislature that is the problem (dems and rep) since they refuse to pass a Right to Work Law in our state. (This is because the teachers/unions, to which you contribute, lobby against such legislation.) This legislation would allow those teachers that do not want to pay union dues to exempt themselves. You mention that the people of Hershey Mills coming to the meeting complaining. (I do not live there and am not into the class warfare as you obviously are.) I only wish they did come en masse to the school board meetings. Teachers salaries and benefits are far higher than many of the taxpayers salaries/benefits in the district. However, if you are not happy with what is offered in this district, you always have the option of looking for a position in another district or changing your profession.

Helen, I am not into class warfare, either, but when I am accused of stealing taxpayers money, (of which I am one) I become outraged. I resent being grouped into something of which I have no control, and that is legislation. Oh, I can contact my represenatives and senators, and i have, but I am ignored as I am "only a teacher/union, to use your phrase.

As far as forced into membership? WRONG. Of course, if a teacher does not want to be a part of the union as it stands today, then they need to be prepared to negotiate their individual contract, and good luck to that!

Do I think there needs to be reform in our current union structure? Of course, but please stop bashing teachers. We are not the enemey,and I am quite sick and tired of our profession being treated like common criminals.

Good for you edufan, enough of it. I as a parent too am sick of hearing it. I would bet most of the naysayers on here have not set foot in a school in too many years to count. I bet you wish you had the power they all ascribe to the union. If it were so true you would not be sitting there with no pay raise, no cost of living for the past two years and no contract looking to be settled any time soon.

Yet, I know I got a pay raise and a bonus this year as did my husband. I know that most of the major corporations around here are doing just fine. WE cannot compare the school district to the small business on the corner. Sorry, it is not the same thing and we cannot expect it or the employees to be treated as such. This is a wealthy community, like or not. I see what the parents demand and expect of the teachers, and guess what they deliver.

OUr taxes are low, and we are the 19th richest county in the nation. Quit bellyaching. At some point all the data is point to a recovering situation. What do you think is going to happen, that we are never going to give the teachers a raise again? Come on. That is not even realistic. This is not about unions at all.

My take, if they could go in and ask for a raise, what they would be given based on performance would be more than we could begin to afford - and it would be well deserved.

Star's off of its meds again.

??? So now the federal issues are also the fault of the teacher unions too? All pension plans are evil. Do you know the history of 401K's - a way for execs to hide income, never intended to be a way to provide for a secure retirement. And most decent companies contribute toward them in any case.

The debt ceiling only obligates us to pay for debt already incurred. It has nothing to do with the authorization of "new" spending.

To state educators do not help children - really? Who is teaching them every day? Who would teach them even if the evil union disappeared? So you cut pay to nothing, take away all benefits, strip away a pension, make the job totally unattractive so that people don't want to do it. That works? In the end even those passionate about teaching still have bills to pay, still have children of their own to raise, still have medical problems, still live in the world. And we as a nation decided a long time ago that education in the public sector was essential to our democracy.

That fact that we need to reform aspects is no reason to categorize teachers as evil parasites. That is just not logical thinking and sir, it borders on slanderous.

We need PA to become a Right to Work state. As far as the teacher's union, we saw what they did in Wisconsin when the union's power was threatened. Governor Walker won by a larger vote than he did the first time. But the teacher's union cost the taxpayers a lot of money because of their actions. By the way the people of Wisconsin, during the last election, again elected a majority of republicans, who favor the Right to Work law, to both houses. This is not an attack on the individual teacher (one of whom is a member of my family), it is an opposition to a powerful union which many times runs roughshod over the general public. The public's facilities should not be used to collect union dues. If the individual teacher wants to fund their union, they should be responsible for sending in their dues themselves.

Governor Christie calls teacher's union Political Thuggery. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzzYGazQOB8