EP Teachers, School Committee Resume Talks
Tuesday, May 04, 2010
EAST PROVIDENCE – The East Providence teachers union and school committee are resuming contract talks today after the lawyer for the school committee told the union that a number of actions might be taken – without the union’s approval – to save money in the financially strapped school district.
The steps the school committee might take if no agreement is reached soon include extending the school day by a half an hour, adding four days for professional development to the teachers’ school year - without additional pay - and reducing the number of paid sick days a teacher can take, Daniel Kinder, the lawyer for the East Providence School Committee, said yesterday.
An examination of how and when teachers take sick days revealed an “evident pattern of abuse,” which can be targeted in an effort to save the school district money, Kinder said. On average, East Providence teachers take 8.5 sick days during the school year, he said, noting, “That’s a lot of days out of work for a regular year, let alone one that’s only 180 days.”
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTKinder said he sent a letter to the East Providence Education Association outlining these possibilities a few weeks ago, noting that a recent court ruling upheld the committee’s right to take unilateral actions in the absence of a contract to prevent deficit spending.
The March ruling by Superior Court Justice Michael Silverstein validated the committee’s decision in January 2009 to cut the teachers’ salaries by 5 percent and to force them to assume more of their health care costs.
“This letter got them back to the table,” said Kinder.
The two sides will meet at 10 a.m. at the school administration building. According to Kinder, the committee recently presented the union with a proposal and have requested that it be presented to the union’s membership for a vote. East Providence teachers have been without a contract since October, 2008, when their last agreement expired.
The business agent for the teachers’ union, Jeannette Wooley of NEA Rhode Island, could not be reached yesterday for comment.
