(This story was updated at 9:07 a.m. on September 15 with new information from the Burlington School District)
[B]URLINGTON — Teachers across the city took to picket lines on the first day of a strike Thursday, as many parents of the district’s roughly 4,000 students scrambled to find child care options.
No resolution is on the horizon. Burlington Education Association President Fran Brock said the strike would continue Friday, and the union had not spoken with the school board since mediations failed Wednesday. She said the union had no plans to reach out to the school board at this point, but its members planned to meet Thursday afternoon to discuss their options.
Erik Wells, a district spokesman, confirmed there would be no school Friday, but declined to say when or how the board might make overtures to the union going forward.
The work stoppage comes after more than 10 months of negotiations failed to produce a teacher contract. The school board imposed terms and working conditions earlier this month, and the Burlington Education Association responded by voting to strike.
Union officials agreed to delay the strike by one day for a final round of talks organized by the mayor and a third-party mediator, but after close nine hours the two sides could not reach a compromise.
The district is halting most after-school programs. Wells initially said sports would be canceled as well, but in a news release sent late Thursday, he said sports and other extracurricular activities can occur during a strike.
It’s Homecoming Weekend for Burlington High School, and after meeting with student athletes, Wells said that Superintendent Yaw Obeng began working with administrators to allow the weekend’s games to proceed.
“Each extracurricular activity is dependent upon participation of non-teacher coaches and volunteers in collaboration with the school principal,” the release states.
The Homecoming dance will be rescheduled, according to the release.
The district will continue to provide lunch to students in need during the strike, Wells said. More information for parents is available on the district’s website.
Liam Griffin has a son in second grade at Integrated Arts Academy. The self-employed consultant said he was initially concerned the strike would make it difficult for him to work normal hours.
Then late Wednesday, Griffin said he received an email from the Boys and Girls Club saying they would offer the same day camp during the strike that his son had participated in over the summer. “We were lucky to get one of the limited spots they had open for that program,” he said.
Griffin said he was part of a long text message chain with other concerned parents who were racing to find child care options on short notice. Some parents with multiple options gave up their spot at the Boys and Girls Club to help other families that did not.
“I think everyone is looking out for each other,” Griffin said.
Brock, a high school history teacher, held a morning news conference where she sought to dispel what she described as “misinformation” surrounding the stalled negotiations.
After Wednesday’s mediation, teachers said the issue that stalled talks was contract language governing time management and responsibilities for elementary teachers, while the board said it all came down to a dispute over pay raises.
School Board Chair Mark Porter said the board offered teachers an 8 percent raise over three years, an increase of roughly $6,000 per teacher over that span, which the union rejected.
“This all just came down to the money,” Porter said. “We really don’t know what else we possibly could have done to avoid this strike.”
Brock acknowledged they had not reached agreement over “the economic issues,” but negotiations had brought the two sides close to agreement, and a dispute over pay was not what led to the strike.
She also said it was not true that the board had offered an 8 percent raise over three years. “I’m sorry, nobody offered us 8 percent. What, you think we wouldn’t take 8 percent?” Brock asked reporters, sounding incredulous.
A three-year contract also isn’t a practical option, because Act 85, a law passed this year to ensure savings from new teacher health plans accrue to state coffers, requires that unions and boards renegotiate health benefits after two years, Brock said.
More importantly, Brock said the union wants the district to adopt contract language that’s been in the works for years, which would give elementary teachers more time to prepare lesson plans and work one-on-one with students who have special needs or require individualized learning plans.
In a statement released by the board Thursday, officials said they accepted the union’s proposals for elementary teachers “outright, or with minor modification,” but it’s unclear whether that’s the case, as Brock was adamant the issue is still unresolved.
“Unfortunately, they’re not listening to us. We told them that the elementary school language is crucial,” Brock said.
“It may sound petty to you,” Brock said, when asked whether the union chose to strike over elementary school working conditions, “But it really feeds the issue of getting the right kind of services, the right kind of education to the elementary school children. If they don’t get the education at their level, they’re never going to get caught up and that achievement gap just gets wider.”
The achievement gap refers to the disparity in school performance between low-income students, students of color and English language learners and their wealthier whiter peers. Both the district and the union have said the operational changes they’re seeking are aimed at addressing that gap.
Similar issues at the high school level were resolved during the mediation, with the two sides agreeing to have a study group explore time management and other issues related to keeping high need students in the classroom and out of specialized programs.
Brock said the teachers are aware of how disruptive a teacher strike is, but felt it was a necessary step to stem the “exodus” of educators from the Burlington School District.
Sixty-four BEA members have resigned since May, 2014, according to figures compiled by the union. Brock said those resignations are people who have taken jobs in nearby districts or left the profession — largely out of frustration with how they’re being managed.
“Some of those people have gone to jobs where they’re earning less or they have a longer commute. It’s a mix of reasons, but the common thread is they wanted out of the Burlington School District,” Brock said.
Other members of the BEA negotiating team have pointed to several guidance counselors and several special educators who resigned earlier this year, citing frustrations with administrators, as evidence that the district is mishandling operations.
The BEA has roughly 400 members in a bargaining unit that includes teachers, guidance counselors, school nurses, special educators, speech pathologists and other specialists.
A separate BEA unit representing paraeducators has roughly 100 members, and its contract is negotiated separately. That unit is not striking, and is still in active negotiations for a new contract with the school board.
Brock said BEA members would be meeting Thursday afternoon to discuss next steps, but she was not able to say how long she expected the strike to last or when the union’s next meeting with the school board might take place.
The board also did not release any information Thursday about when the two sides might next meet for further bargaining.
Mia Marinovich, an administrative assistant at Edmunds Middle School, said Thursday that she was not aware of any meetings between the two sides scheduled for Friday, but she was nonetheless holding out hope that students would be back in school Monday.
“Everyone feels a little sick,” she said. “The kids want to be here, they were just getting started.”
Inside Edmunds, there were around 57 people still at work, including paraeducators and administrative workers. Marinovich said that only one student had shown up Thursday to get a sack lunch from the school.
The district said on its website that it would provide free bag lunches at all schools for the first three days of the strike and then reassess based on demand.
Outside Edmunds, Onnika Hawkins-Hilke of Burlington, was one several parents who walked with the teachers. She was with her son, Micah, a first grader in the district. “Our future is in the hands of these teachers, we hope the board will put our children first and sit down and negotiate,” she said.
At Burlington High School, freshman Isaac Martin, 14 of Burlington, picketed alongside his teachers. “I didn’t feel like I had a choice. The teachers have given so much to us, and I felt it was the right thing to do,” he said.
