March 19, 2010

To the Residents of the Northwestern Lehigh School District:

The Board of School Directors for the Northwestern Lehigh School District would like to issue the
following statement regarding contract negotiations with the District’s teachers to update our
community as to our progress.

The Northwestern Lehigh School District has a very long history of successful contracts and
negotiation processes. This history has led to professional, respectful, and collaborative dialogue and
the District has not experienced many of the negative issues that are common in contract negotiations
such as strikes or disrespectful, unprofessional communications with students or community
members. The Board also feels the relationship between the Board and the Teacher’s Association has
always been positive, based on mutual trust and respect.

Contract negotiations began in January of 2009 and we had high hopes our teachers would be
cognizant of the deteriorating economy, the loss of jobs and salary cuts to members of our
community, the rising costs of education, and the extreme constraints that Act 1 combined with the
recession has placed on all school districts in Pennsylvania.

Act 1 is a piece of Pennsylvania State legislation that restricts a school board’s ability to increase
taxation millage. While this piece of legislation provides restrictions on tax increases it does not
account for the fact that State and Federal revenues have not kept pace with rising costs and that local
revenues such as Earned Income Tax and interest on the District’s investments have decreased
significantly as a result of the recession.

The Board and Teacher’s Association have continuously set dates to meet and negotiate the terms of
a new contract in good faith. You can view a schedule of the timelines at the District’s website under
the Collective Bargaining menu item on the left side of the home page at www.nwlehighsd.org. We
have stated publicly and at many negotiations session our commitment to our teachers. The Board
places a very high value and is deeply thankful for the work of our teachers and all our employees as
well as our students, parents, and community members. All of our other employees at Northwestern
Lehigh School District have accepted
0% to 2% salary increases for the 2009-2010 school year and we are thankful for their understanding
of the current economy.

The Board continues to negotiate and come to the bargaining table with ideas and suggestions to
mutually agree to an appropriate and affordable contract. Our next bargaining session is March 31,
2010 and we hope to make progress.

Unfortunately, our teachers were not able to complete a negotiations session in August of 2009 which
left the Board in a position to believe the teachers were unwilling to negotiate from their salary
request of 4.9% which the District is just not able to afford. The inability of the teachers to complete
this session is what prompted the Board to request Fact Finding. The Board’s hope for the Fact
Finding process was that the Fact Finder would provide a contract solution that would be appropriate
for our teachers, affordable to the District and taxpayers, and move us forward in the negotaions
process. While the Fact Finder’s report contained many options that are viable for the District and
the Teacher’s Association, the salary increases of 3.5% are too high and not affordable for the
District or our taxpayers.
Of the approximately 40 items in the contract, the Teacher’s Association and Board have tentatively
agreed to approximately 25 of these items. Of the items that we have agreed to that have a direct
financial impact, all of these items provide maintained or increased benefit to our teachers. Many of
the tentatively agreed upon items were recommendations from the Fact Finder’s report. The Board
views this as progress given that more than half of the new contract language has been tentatively
agreed to by the Teacher’s Association and School Board.

The Board remains committed to continued negotiations and sound fiscal management over the
remaining items in the contract. We hope that our teachers continue to provide all the services they
have been to our students as they have stated they will continue to perform their professional
responsibilities in a professional manner.

Many members of our community have indicated they have heard rumors about our teachers
choosing to consider a potential strike. The District has no communication from the Teachers’
Association about a strike and the Board is very hopeful these rumors are not accurate. We are very
aware of the difficulty a strike places on families, especially our graduating seniors, and again we are
hopeful the Teacher’s Association will continue to negotiate to resolve the contract in a professional,
respectful, and collaborative manner.

Act 88 of Pennsylvania governs the rules of a strike in Pennsylvania.

The law requires the Teacher’s Association to notify the District in writing 48 hours in advance of a
strike.

The law limits a teacher strike to only that number of days that would still enable students to
complete a 180-day school year.

Should the teachers choose to strike, the District will notify parents, employees, and our community
as soon as a strike notice is received. School for our students would be closed, but the District will
make the best effort possible to continue operations and activities if a strike should occur. The
District would use ConnectEd and the District’s website to notify parents and the community if the
teachers choose to strike.

If you have any questions about the District’s 2009-2010 budget or the current budget development
for the 2010-2011 school year, please take the time to call the District at 610-298-8661 and ask to
speak with our Business Administrator or Assistant Business Administrator who are more than happy
to answer your questions.

We thank you for taking the time to read this message. If you have any questions, please feel free to
contact our District Superintendent at 610-298-8661, ext. 1225.

All our best wishes to you and your family for a wonderful spring!

The Members of the School Board for the Northwestern Lehigh School District