Striking Teachers Must Return to Class by June 15

At , officials announced that striking Neshaminy teachers must return to their classrooms by June 15.

The school board's labor attorney Charles Sweet stated that state law requires 180 days of instruction to be completed by June 29. He also said that students have completed 169 days of instruction thus far, so they have to complete 11 more.

With that, teachers must return to work by June 15. Sweet said that he expects the state's Department of Education to file an injunction with the Bucks County Court to ensure schools open by that date.

Also at the school board meeting, school board members announced that they might be able to save The Learning Center program, .

School board President Ritchie Webb said that TLC's principal Joann Holland presented ways to trim some dollars while still keeping program intact to the Educational Development Committee Monday evening.

"We are going to do everything possible to save the TLC program," Webb said.

"I can’t promise you just yet that we can keep TLC going but I am confident the board will have good news at the next meeting."

However, it wasn't made clear if the board will be able to save the middle schools' instructional opportunity period in addition to the teaching positions associated with that program.

The board voted unanimously to furlough, suspend or demote certified teaching positions Tuesday night. While Webb said that this was required by the state's Department of Education and that "some of this may happen, some may not," .

Superintendent Louis Muenker had been making presentations at previous board meetings with his recommendations to cut costs to balance the 2012-2013 budget. Tuesday night, Muenker said that the budget deficit still sits at about $5 million with his recommendations.

Muenker said that he is "very confident" that the administration's continued work on the budget will lead to a balanced budget for next year. He said he hopes to have the final budget together for the board to vote on by June 19.

"The timeline is tight, but we will have additional information to share with the board and the public as well," Muenker said, noting that there should be "some potential relief due to some long tedious work from the administration."

The district is required to have a balanced budget by June 30. In the event that the final budget will not be ready to be voted on by June 19, Muenker said that a public announcement to delay the vote will be made along with an alternative date.

In addition, the board announced that there will be public interviews of superintendent candidates Thursday at Maple Point at 6:30 p.m. Muenker is set to retire at the end of the school year.