North Penn Education Association President Alan Malachowski says his members turned down the school board’s request for a six-month pay freeze because they do not trust the current board. He says board members went around bragging about what good financial managers they were when the two sides reached a contract agreement last year, and then a year later during an election campaign they were bashing both the union and the contract.

“Right after these freeze discussions commenced we had a contested primary election and the current school board members who were running for re-election chose to put out a number of mailers really trashing the teachers and trashing the teachers’ union.  The most offensive of all the mailers was one that depicted a handgun on the front of the mailer, and the implication is that North Penn teachers are thieves, and they’re stealing your money, and they would resort to violence to get it.”

Malachowski says the mailer came out the day before the board asked the union to consider the pay freeze.  Meanwhile, School Board President Vince Sherpinsky Says Malachowski is hypocritical to talk about trust at a time when he withheld important information about the pay freeze offer from his own members.  Sherpinsky is asking him to resign as union president.  Malachowski appeared recently on the WNPV talk program Comment Please by Univest.