Portage schools Superintendent Mark Bielang, left, talks with board president Randy Van Antwerp prior to Monday night's meeting.

PORTAGE, MI — The Portage Public Schools Board of Education has threatened to file an unfair labor practice against the Portage Education Association if the union files one against the district.

In a surprise action around midnight, the Portage school board came out of a more than an hour closed-door session and voted 3-1-2 to authorize Ray Davis of the district’s Thrum lawfirm “to file an unfair labor practice against the Portage Education Association for bad faith bargaining that is conditioned on the board being served with unfair labor practice charges” by the PEA.

Trustees Bo Snyder, Rusty Rathburn and Terri Novaria voted yes, Joanne Wlllson voted no and board president Randy Van Antwerp and Geoff Howe abstained because their wives are teachers with the PEA. Trustee Ted Hartridge was absent from the meeting.

The board offered no other comment on the vote other than to say they had no idea the PEA might be considering filing an unfair labor practice charge against the board until that was hinted by union president Eric VerHey.

VerHey told the board during its more than three-hour meeting Monday in which more than 250 teachers packed the room that the PEA was unhappy that the administration and board tacked on 10 minutes a day of additional teaching time to meet the state’s increased 175-day school days total.

The decision to add the 10 minutes, especially at the beginning of the day and not the end, was made without consulting the teachers, he said, and could be a contract violation.

“It was a distasteful power grab,” VerHey told the board. “We filed an appeal on it and the MEA is looking into it. We don’t want to do that but it is our recourse.”

Only a Kalamazoo Gazette reporter remained in the audience after the board came out of the one-hour closed door meeting so VerHey did not learn of the board’s decision until this morning.

“We will file because it's the right thing to do,” he said in an email. “I can't comment as yet on anything as I don't know what their specific issue is…”

The two sides have been involved in state mediation, with the next session slated for Nov 21.