Cory Dawson

Free Press Staff Writer

The Burlington teachers union announced Thursday afternoon that they have voted to strike, following bitter contract negotiations.

"Teachers take this action with thoughtfulness and sadness" said Fran Brock, a Burlington High School history teacher and president of the Burlington teachers union.

Immense pressure is on a meeting next week to produce a settlement. Teachers will strike Oct. 20 if a settlement is not reached at a mediation session set for next Wednesday, Oct. 19, Brock said. The strike vote was nearly unanimous — 96 percent of the 330 teachers present voted to strike. There are about 400 teachers in the district.

"Should the board fail to reach a settlement, we will exercise our last resort," Brock said.

An impartial mediator, Ira Lobel, an attorney from New York, will oversee the talks.

Lobel said in a phone conversation Wednesday he never goes into a mediation meeting with expectations. He wants to avoid a work stoppage, he said, and if there is one, to minimize it.

"I called a meeting because I thought it was time to call a meeting. My only goal is to help the parties reach a settlement. And I don't really care what the settlement is," Lobel said.

Bending to pressure, the school board released a statement late September saying they want to return to the table, but can't talk about money. The union quickly fired back, saying more talks must be free of conditions.

Adding the condition of a teacher strike to the next talks, should a settlement fail, is not hypocritcal, Brock said.

"If the board invited us back, we were not going to honor their conditions. The mediator is not setting any conditions," she said.

For more than a year, the teachers union and the Burlington School Board have been negotiating a one-year contract. Negotiations ceased when the board voted to impose working conditions on the teachers almost a month ago. Since then, both sides have made efforts to reconcile and continue negotiations but have so far failed to fully re-open talks.

The strike would be the first time Burlington teachers have taken such an action since 1978, when for six days in September they were off the job, said Darren Allen, spokesman for the Vermont chapter of the National Education Association, the parent organization of Burlington's teachers union.

District forces contract on BTV teachers union

Since Vermont teachers had collective bargaining rights, there have been 26 strikes in the state and more than 5,000 successfully negotiated contracts. Boards have imposed 21 contracts in that time, including Burlington's this year.

Over 300 people attended a school board meeting Thursday night. Brock read a statement she had given to members of the media during the public comment section to a standing ovation.

At every board meeting 20 minutes is allotted for public comments. Far more people signed up to speak than there was time for. Brian Cina, a school commissioner moved to extend the comment section, which several other commissioners supported.

Dozens of people signed up to speak to the packed meeting. Many speakers urged both sides to look past differences and settle. Some placed blame.

Chris Hood, a teacher at Champlain Valley Union high school and parent of a Burlington student asked board members to act according to their conscience.

"I ask all of you to listen to your own voice. I ask all of you to consider new negotiating positions that you can support even if it doesn't go along with board leadership. Next Wednesday I ask all of you to talk, negotiate and settle. Burlingtonians deserve nothing less," Hood said.

Alison Segar, a single parent of a Burlington students said she has several friends on the school board.

"If there is no more money, I believe you," Segar said.

"Please come up with a peaceful resolution. Please don't let it come on the backs of our students," she said.

Cina, who also works as a social worker spoke after the public comments ended. Cina was the only commissioner to vote against the board imposition last month.

"One of the core things we understand is the value of relationships. We in the community have an opportunity to repair them," Cina said.

An online petition that urged the School Board to move the meeting to a larger space had over 200 signatures.

After hearing from Burlington's fire marshal, district officials eventually switched the venue to the larger cafeteria said Mark Porter, chair of the Burlington school board. They had planned to have both venues available, he said.

Claire Wool, chair of the Edmunds Middle School parent-teacher organization said it was strange the board was considering meeting in the library.

"In seven years of me being involved with the Burlington school district there has never been a board meeting at the Edmunds library," Wool said.

In recent weeks, calls for reconciliation between the union and the school district have grown. Jeff Wick, a local attorney and parent of three children in Burlington schools, said that both sides need to recognize the district is in a tough position.

A lack of trust is driving much of the conflict, he said, and to avoid conflicts it's key that both sides have a shared set of facts.

"The union and the board should get together for one to two days early on, what I call financial due diligence. Give the union a full chance to have at the books and records of the district, other than the confidential ones," he said.

In a letter to union leadership, school commissioners and district administrators, parent-teacher organization leaders wrote that the conflict between the board and the union is "diminishing the community that you both serve."

"What it takes for this school district to remain a healthy and vital system, begins with you," the PTO leaders wrote. "We are aware that there may be motivations at play that go beyond the immediate fiscal and social well being of those in this school district."

"We are counting on you. Please do not let us down," they wrote.

This is a developing story and will be updated. It was first posted online on Oct. 13, 2016. Contact Cory Dawson at the office at 802-651-4826, on his cell at 802-338-0316 or via email at cdawson2@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Dawson_and_Co.

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