FeedsTeachers, district head to court
A standing room only crowd of nearly 1,000 parents, students and teachers packed Stockmeyer Auditorium in Wayne on Tuesday as the Wayne-Westland school board hosted a special meeting regarding the “work stoppage” which began Monday.
Members of the school board voted unanimously, excluding absent board member Steve Becher, to eliminate the collection of union dues by the district and to establish a procedure for disciplining teachers participating in the strike. Catcalls and yelling offered by the crowd drowned out much of the discussion. State law makes teacher strikes illegal; violators can face penalties ranging from fines to termination.
For an hour afterward the motion, audience members had an opportunity speak their minds.
“I think both sides are missing the picture,” said T.J. Thomas, a parent with a daughter in the district. “You’re bickering back and forth about greed. There’s no reason this couldn’t have been done in the summertime and taken care of. Get them back in school. That’s what we deserve and that’s what we want.”
Arthur Przybylowicz, general counsel for the Michigan Education Association, read part of a decision by Administrative Law Judge Doyle O’Connor on a case filed by the Wayne Westland Education Association (WWEA) with the Michigan Employee Relations Commission. The suit alleged that the district had violated the law by “failing to properly respond to requests for information made by the union.” The decision, dated Oct. 7, noted that the district had not responded the court order on the matter by the deadline.
O’Connor found in favor of the union by default on the grounds that “a proper charge had been stated and there is no genuine issue of material fact in dispute” and ordered the district to turn over the requested information.
“This community was built on the bargaining process,” said Michigan Education Association president Iris Salters to the board. “You are not holding your own at the table because you are, most of the time, breaking the law.”
Legal counsel for the district, Bob Lusk, said he had not yet had a chance to review the matter and therefore could not comment.
After the scheduled one-hour public comment period, the meeting was closed without further comment from the board, angering many of those who had wished to speak.
“It’s definitely the most challenging thing I’ve dealt with on my time on school board,” said board Vice President Skip Monit.
He encouraged residents to visit the district web site to read the proposals for themselves and to learn more about the district viewpoint. He said that while much of the focus Tuesday was on class size, he has attended all of the negotiation sessions and the teams had done “nothing but negotiate health care.”
The school district is scheduled to appear in court today to seek an injunction to end the strike.
