By: Dan Sokil

It's official: School starts today for students in the Souderton Area School District.

"The teachers voted unanimously to go back tomorrow," spokesman Rob Broderick said on Thursday on behalf of the teachers union.

"They basically accepted the school board's offer to go to non-binding arbitration, and they're looking forward to that process beginning next week," he said.

The news came after a day of quick developments in the dispute between the Souderton Area School Board and the Souderton Area Education Association, as both parties agreed to end the teachers strike and advance to the next step in the negotiation process.

"The arbitration starts next week. We'll discuss who's going to be on the arbitration panel; each side puts together its proposal, and there'll be discussion on each side of what kind of arbitration we'll be using," said Broderick, who is with the Pennsylvania State Education Association.

Once the teachers took their vote shortly after 5 p.m. Thursday afternoon, Broderick said, SAEA head Bill Lukridge officially informed the school district of the decision, and a statement from Superintendent Charles Amuso was sent out

shortly thereafter.

"A wonderful year is about to begin in the Souderton Area School District tomorrow ... and on behalf of the District, I am delighted," the statement said.

The statement was accompanied by a press release describing the arbitration process, and detailing Friday's opening.

Kindergarten orientation will take place as previously planned, and sophomores who attend the North Montco Technical Career will report there via buses that leave the Souderton Area High School at 7:40 a.m. according to their regular schedule, said the press release.

"I look forward to knowing that each and every one of our students will be in school tomorrow, benefiting from the top-notch education that our district provides," Amuso said.

Broderick estimated there were nearly 500 teachers present at Thursday afternoon's SAEA membership meeting, all of whom voted to go back to their classrooms instead of continuing the strike.

"There were a lot of people in there, some of them with young children, and they're anxious to get back and to get with their students tomorrow," Broderick said Thursday night. "They will be participating in Back to School nights whenever those are going to be held at the various schools, and they will be in the classroom tomorrow."

Jeffrey Sultanik, chief negotiator for the school board, said he and representatives of the striking teachers union had been talking all week about expediting the final-best-offer arbitration process that both sides would have been required to start next week.

"We are glad that the teachers did what was best for the students of the district. Now, children can return to school and we can continue the hard work of reaching an agreement that is fair to both teachers and the community," Sultanik said.

Once both parties begin the arbitration process, they have 10 days to submit their final best offers on all unresolved issues to a three person arbitration panel, said the district's statement.

The panel would review the offers, post them for 10 days to allow public comment, hold hearings and issue its own written determination which either party could then accept or reject.

"We expect that the process will take roughly a month, in terms of choosing the panel, getting together the data and everything, but it has to be a fairly quick vote on the panel's recommendations so it will not go until the spring," said Broderick.

"The teachers are looking forward to that process beginning next week, and hopefully getting enough movement on both sides that there'll be a contract before Christmas," he said.

If either party rejects those recommendations, a short "second strike" could then begin, but Thursday's big news was that the first day of school is today.

"It is time for the community to turn its focus away from the past weeks and to look ahead to the dynamic learning opportunities that await our students," said Amuso.