[January 09, 2009]

Union: What gives?: Schoolteachers in Wilmington say board is stalling contract approval

(Sun, The (Lowell, MA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jan. 9--WILMINGTON -- As they head into their fifth month without a contract, Wilmington teachers are crying foul over what they say is an unexplained delay by the School Committee in approving a new deal.

The committee has met twice -- most recently on Wednesday -- since the new contract was finalized with help from a state mediator in November. On both occasions, the board has postponed a vote on the deal without any explanation, Wilmington Teachers Association President Joseph Kleponis said.

"It smacks of unfair labor practice," he said. "We've been diplomatic and we've been accommodating, but the patience is running thin. They owe every teacher in this system an explanation. We want to know what the holdup is."

School Committee member Joan Duffy last night would not say why a vote had not been taken.

"It's just not resolved yet. But I feel that we'll be able to work it out," she said before declining to comment further.

Superintendent of Schools Joanne Benton yesterday referred all comment on the contract to committee members Judith O'Connell and Kimberly Peterson, who make up the negotiations subcommittee.

Neither the pair nor most other committee members returned a call seeking comment last night. Chairwoman Peggy Kane, meanwhile, cannot vote on the contract because she has a relative who works in the school system.

The Wilmington teachers have now reached out to the Massachusetts Teachers Association for help. Kleponis said a "crisis team"

will soon be formed and "a range of options" studied to determine the union's next steps.

He was quick to note that a strike has not been mentioned or discussed.

"It's not at all on our agenda at this point," Kleponis said. "We just want to know what the heck the School Committee is doing. For them to not say anything and just protract this is odd and untenable. Why all the secrecy?"

The School Committee first entered into new contract negotiations with the teachers union in November 2007.

The previous three-year deal, which expired last August, had given teachers a 2 percent raise once in the 2006-2007 school year and twice in 2007-2008. The base pay for the lowest possible teaching rank went from $34,950 to $37,090 over the life of the contract, while the highest possible rank went from $65,634 to $69,651.

Kleponis declined to reveal what the exact terms of the new contract are.

"I can tell you that it's in the range of other contracts that have been recently ratified in the area," he said. "It's in that same ballpark."

The Wilmington teachers ratified the new deal in early December.

When the School Committee postponed its vote for the first time on Dec. 6, Kleponis said speculation was that it may have been because that special meeting was supposed to be dedicated to the fiscal year 2010 budget.

Ratification of the contract was clearly listed on the agenda for this week's meeting, but Kleponis was told by some of his members that there was no vote and no indication on when the matter may be taken up next.

"It was disappointing and frustrating," he said. "It's perhaps even a bit disrespectful of the process."

Kleponis, an English teacher at Wilmington High School who has been working in the Wilmington schools for 26 years, said he has seen nothing like it before.

Yet, he noted, school leaders were quick to celebrate when Wilmington High School was given the prestigious Compass School award in 2007.

"That was the work of every teacher in this school system," he said. "But the town doesn't seem to recognize that."

The School Committee is next scheduled to meet on Wednesday, Jan. 21.

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