To the Editor:
It seems to me that in light of losing the labor board hearing that the WPS administration has decided to negotiate the contract through the public. Rather than sitting down and …
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To the Editor:
It seems to me that in light of losing the labor board hearing that the WPS administration has decided to negotiate the contract through the public. Rather than sitting down and negotiating with the teachers, it is presenting a one sided version in a message through ConnectEd. It would be interesting to know if the union and teachers will receive the same option of presenting their points to the public through the ConnectEd system.
Enough is enough! The WPS admin refuses to negotiate with the teacher’s union. They went right to arbitration and then to litigation. The ruling of the Labor Board was quite strong and it is highly unlikely that the court system will overturn that ruling as the impact is far beyond the scope of the WPS administration.
I won’t counter all the points that Thornton raised in his email but will say that there is more than one side to this negotiation and the teachers are not the villains that administration paints them to be. In regards to 90 sick days, he neglects to mention that teachers pay for their sick time based on the sub rate (point 9 in the contract) and that the teachers do not have TDI. In regards to layoffs, as has been mentioned repeatedly, the limit of 20 is not something that was arbitrarily thrown out by the teachers this year. It has been in the contract. Administration could have laid off 20 each year for the past three years and been at the number needed for consolidation. After all, the decline in population did not occur from one school year to the next. Administration’s poor planning and lack of foresight does not negate the contract.
Good teachers are leaving the district in search of positions in which they are respected for their experience and education. Do we really want that? Parents are pulling their students from the public school system, further increasing the decline. Is that the goal of administration? The email with the 11 points is so disrespectful to the teachers, the taxpayers and the students. The contract should be negotiated with those involved, not through the public.
Enough time and money has been wasted with the WPS administration’s insistence that they are right. The Labor Board ruled against them- even ordering the WPS administration to pay the Union’s legal fees. I understand that the WPS admin is appealing the decision by the Labor board but generally speaking, during the appeal process, most would abide by the decision until it was overruled. It does not seem to be the case with the WPS administration. How much more money and time needs to be wasted? How much will it cost to redo all the schedules when the teachers are called back, when the expired contract has to be abided by as the existing contract until the new contract is negotiated? What will taxpayers say when they are paying all the legal fees for both sides simply because administration refuses to negotiate with the teachers. I hope that they remember this at election time.
Stephanie Shelton
Warwick
2 comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here
Imhere
The school dept wastes money because it is not there money so why not waste. Not all teachers deserve a contract but the majority do and seeing how Warwick is the laughing stock of school districts. Phil Thorton can't negotiate he is to busy running " The cover up crew" which infiltrated Norwood when 4 girls were touched and Thorton and his puppets Lynn Dambruch and John Gannon sat on there hands. If all the parents involved had the balls to stand up to the useless administration maybe this wouldn't have happened, maybe they were afraid to come forward or don't live in the district or jobs were in the way or just don't have the morals to do what's right for there children. Out of 4 girls only one family stood up and the other 3 coward to these incompetent waste of tax payer money. These people should be punished for letting this happen to these girls because a school is a safe zone and these kids shouldn't have to feel violated because the principal just sits behind his desk and says his hands are tied. But when I drop my daughter off at school I leave her safety and well being in the hands of Warwick school dept hands and they have showed they are failures and always will be for letting this happen and shame on the other parents who put there children on the back burner. A resignation would be ideal from Phil Thorton, Lynn Dambruch, and John Gannon.
Thursday, July 14, 2016 Report this
richardcorrente
This is not complicated!
The teachers are willing to sit down and negotiate. The School Committee is NOT.
Case closed. Judgement (in the court of public opinion) : The Warwick Teachers!
Now , sit with the teachers and work out some agreement. The students that the members of the School Committee claim you care about, are counting on you, and you are letting them down!
Richard Corrente
Endorsed Democrat for Mayor
Friday, July 15, 2016 Report this