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Burlington EA President Sets Record Straight
September 14, 2017
Board Mischaracterizes State of Bargaining With Burlington’s Teachers
BEA President debunks board chair’s characterization of failed talks
BURLINGTON – The president of the city’s teachers’ union today pushed back strongly against the school board chairman’s characterization of yesterday’s bargaining session.
“The assertion that we were ever in agreement on economic issues is absurd on its face,” said Fran Brock, a Burlington High School history teacher who serves as president of the Burlington Education Association. Referring to Burlington School Board Chairman Mark Porter, she added, “he knows that we had been inching closer to an agreement, even before the board decided to impose employment terms.”
Noting that the association continued to compromise on health insurance and salary, Brock said the real issue was and continues to be the board’s refusal to work with teachers to address the achievement gap. She noted that the board and union negotiators did reach a tentative agreement for high school teachers. However, “the board just refuses to listen to us when it comes to the elementary schools,” she said. “While we did reach an agreement for the high school, we would never shortchange our elementary students and teachers.”
She said that the board and the administration have failed for years to work with teachers to ensure the city’s students get the one-on-one attention they all deserve. “We work every day to address the achievement gap,” Brock said. “We can’t stem that gap unless the administration actually listens to the professionals in the classroom.”
One other point Brock wanted to clarify was Porter’s statement last night that teachers were offered an 8 percent raise. “As to that mythical 8 percent raise, do you really think we would turn that down?”
The city’s teachers began their strike this morning. For regular updates, please go to www.beaworks.com. The BEA also has a strike headquarters at 294 N. Winooski Ave., Suite 125 in Burlington’s Old North End.
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