School board president Webb is a polarizing figure in the Neshaminy district

There's no middle ground when it comes to Ritchie Webb.

Take, for example, last month's Neshaminy school board meeting. As Webb took his seat as president, half the packed crowd rose and cheered; the remainder jeered and chanted, "Negotiate."

Webb has stood center stage in the district's bitter and polarizing contract impasse for four years - the longest-running standoff in the state, with no end in sight.

To his supporters, he is "a hero," "cunning," and "fair."

His critics call him a union-buster who refuses to negotiate in good faith with the 654-member Neshaminy Federation of Teachers.

"My main thought has always been to err on the side of the children," Webb said recently. "People lose sight of the big picture. If we cannot negotiate a contract we can afford, by law we have to cut programs and close schools.

"The schools were built for our children, not for anyone else. I don't want my grandchildren not to have gym class, not to play music. Those are things that would have to go."

Webb, 58, of Levittown, is in his ninth year on the board.

Last year, the registered Republican ran unopposed for a third term, campaigning for the contract offer now on the table: a 1 percent increase in base salaries each of the next three years, a 15 percent contribution by teachers for health insurance, no retroactive pay, and elimination of the early-retirement incentive.

"I wanted to see it through," Webb said. "I started with it, and I thought I know it better than most people."

Webb "deals with the union the way he deals with everyone: He's extraordinarily fair," former board member William O'Connor said.

Union negotiator Jeff Dunkley said Webb "comes across as a gentleman" in the contract talks. "He smiles a lot, shakes your hand, and acts polite. What's most frustrating is his inability or unwillingness to bring this drawn-out impasse to a logical conclusion."

That frustration led to last month's eight-day teachers' strike, which forced cancellation of classes for 8,568 students. Webb suspended contract talks until the teachers returned to work.

O'Connor calls Webb "dumb as a fox."

"He likes to play the coy, backward guy from the South - very grandfatherly," O'Connor said. "You wouldn't think he has much on the ball. He's so much smarter, more cunning than you'd ever give him credit for."

Webb was born in 1953 in Lester, W.Va., the son of a coal miner. When the mines closed, the family moved to Bristol Borough for his father to work construction.