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UPDATE | October 6, 2008 6:56 PM

Negotiations resume between Westland teachers, district

Contract negotiations between teachers and Wayne-Westland school officials resumed Monday after the school day was cancelled due to a “work stoppage” by the teachers’ union.

According to information released by the Wayne-Westland Community School District (WWCD), bargaining teams for the district and for the Wayne-Westland Education Association (WWEA resumed negotiations at 4 p.m. State mediator Wanda Mayes facilitated the process once again.

“We look forward to a productive negotiation today,” said School Superintendent Gregory Baracy in a written statement. “Our primary responsibility is, and always has been, to our students. Our differences with the union should be resolved at the negotiating table, and should not stand in the way of our students’ education.”

Representatives for the WWEA indicated Monday morning that the work stoppage developed after discussions stalled on Friday night. According to a written statement released by the union, the action ended the Michigan Education Association’s “14-year drought of work stoppages” and “has put Wayne-Westland on everyone’s radar.”

“We set a precedent,” said Nancy Strachan, president of the WWEA in the statement. “If we hadn’t walked today, others wouldn’t know it’s OK to do this. This won’t end bargaining struggles across the state but we’ve taken a step.”

School board members will host a special meeting at 7 p.m. on Oct. 7 in the Stockmeyer Auditorium at Wayne Memorial High School in Wayne. Wayne Memorial High School is located on Glenwood Road between Wildwood and Venoy roads.

No information is currently available on when school will resume.

http://www.journalgroup.com/Westland/8507

Join the Discussion

Reader comments [8]

Oct 7, 2008 | 10:20 AM
Paul:

Fire them all.. its the law…
What are we teaching our kids, the law is not for teachers, just everyone else…
The teachers may want to stop and look around times are hard, money is not easy to come by…
The union needs to go, its time each and every person took responcability for themselves…

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Oct 7, 2008 | 6:11 PM
Norm:

It is also the law to bargain in good faith and against the law to false advertise. Wayne-Westland schools have been advertising small class size for years and now we find out it’s not true.

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Oct 7, 2008 | 6:20 PM
Melissa:

Before you make assumptions you need to know both sides of the story. Teachers are making a stand for their students, my child, in wanting to reduce the class sizes. The WWCSD
ranks in the top third in the county in number of pupils per teacher and it ranks in the bottom third of Wayne County districts in teacher salary.
I encourage you to go to http://www.iammea.org/waynewestlandea/
then you can make an informed decision.

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Oct 7, 2008 | 10:26 PM
Adam:

What about the new story that a district judge found the school district to have knowingly misinformed the union during negotiations? If you are going to jail the teachers for breaking the law, jail the administrators as well.

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Oct 9, 2008 | 8:14 AM
Cindee:

Lets get to the root of the problem. Our children are not getting a quality education. Because of health care benefits? NO. Because of class sizes? MAYBE. Because there is no accountability for teachers and administration? DEFINITELY. Not only did I have to be very involved in my son’s education, I routinely had to question what he was learning. Did he have good teachers? YES. But he also had many poor teachers who are still teaching. I even had one teacher tell me during conferences that he really didn’t want to be teaching that subject and would rather be teaching something else Inspiring. While I empathize with the teachers, it is hard to be sympathetic when I pay more for less health care benefits for my family. Is the school district holding out and not providing the teachers what they want, or do they just not have the money? Look around, how many empty, foreclosed houses are in your neighborhood?

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Oct 9, 2008 | 9:34 AM
dave:

Unbelievable, they should be happy they have a job. There jobs could be replaced in a New York minute. There are many out of work teachers who would love to get into the district.

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Oct 9, 2008 | 12:57 PM
D. KNOWLES:

I USE TO THINK THAT WAYNE-WESTLAND WAS THE BEST. THEY SHOULD HAVE GAVE US A CHOICE IN THE BEGINNING. NOW THAT COUNT DAY IS OVER, THEY WANT TO STRIKE. I TOOK MY DAUGHTER OUT AND PUT HER IN INKSTER PUBLIC SCHOOLS, WHICH SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONE A LONG TIME AGO.

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Oct 9, 2008 | 5:43 PM
Loyal Parent:

If any of you have children in the highschool and your child has to stand in the back of the classroom for 55 min, in more then one class because there is too many students to desk.. you would stand

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