The labor board found that the Burlington School Board was within its rights to decide to withhold teacher pay for days “when they did no work,” according to a July 9 opinion dismissing an unfair labor charge.
The ruling noted that the employer, or school board, “made it clear both before the strike and following the strike that teachers would not receive pay for the time spent on strike.”
Furthermore, the ruling pointed out, the Burlington Education Association signed a contract with no promise of reimbursement for the days.
Burlington Education Association president Andrew Styles declined to comment on the decision, as did Vermont-National Education Association director of communications Darren Allen.
Burlington Superintendent of Schools Yaw Obeng and Burlington School Board chair Clare Wool did not respond to requests for comment.
But rather than extend the calendar, Obeng revised it by switching teacher training days to school days in order to meet state requirements for the length of the school year.
The union argued that the decision undercut the 2.5 percent raise teachers negotiated for 2017-2018 in order to resolve the strike.
The union also argued that it sought to discuss the issue of the revised calendar after the strike, but that the board had “no interest” and adopted the revised schedule without sufficient input.
The labor relations board decision noted that teachers signed a contract that didn’t contain any language explicitly addressing reimbursement for the strike days.
The board disagreed in an opinion available here:
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Check out the achievement scores of Burlington kids if you think the teachers in Vermont’s largest city are underpaid.
Burlington teachers make more than enough money. How about contributing 20% towards your healthcare insurance .
Sixty percent of Vermont’s youngsters can’t do basic math and English.
That means six out of 10 kids, by the time they get to junior high school, are illiterate.
And teachers in Vermont’s largest city, among others, whine that they are underpaid.
The superintendent in Burlington is just as culpable, as are the members of the school board.
Taxpayers in Burlington are spending $70 million to build ramps at Burlington High School, a project that the superintendent believes shows he is a progressive educator entitled to yet another pay raise.
As parents, are you happy with your kids’ education?
Cool.
If you’re happy, we’re all happy.
Yup, give those teachers and superintendent more big raises.
What a joke.
From this article: The union argued that its leaders believed the reimbursement would happen indirectly if the school year was extended by four days with pay. But rather than extend the calendar, [the Superintendent] revised it by switching teacher training days to school days in order to meet state requirements for the length of the school year.
Its about time that a Vermont Superintendent and a Vermont school board developed the unbelievable gall, the audacity, the cheekiness, the impertinence, to refuse to bow to the whims and wiles of the teachers union.
When factory workers go on strike, they lose pay for the days they were on the picket line. But that has never been true of teachers, at least not before this instance. Teachers have never had any reason not to go on strike, because, as the union argued in this case, teachers lose nothing by striking: they are guaranteed a certain number of work days because the school year is required to have a certain number of days. And so, if there is a teacher strike, the school year is extended. And thereby, the teachers recoup the money they lost from being on strike. That doesnt work for any other striking employees in this world.
And so, there never has been any reason that teachers would not go on strike in order to get whatever they want, at whatever cost to the taxpayers, the students, the states economy.
Burlington teachers are bullies who make a ton of money and vacation sixteen weeks or more every year and are never satisfied. They are always complaining and always underperforming.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, please dismantle the NEA mafia and fire these elitist privileged $100,000 teachers and hire replacements who will do a much better job at lower cost to taxpayers. And they’ll still be much higher paid than most Vermonters.
Since they didn’t prevail the Teacher’s Union should have to pay the School Board’s legal costs to defend their correct position
How many teachers actually make over $110K, Penelope? Not very many. Most are lucky to make half that.
Not happy with your kid’s education? Ask yourself what you do to support it. A lot of parents think of school as free daycare. Crack a book at home. If you are not going to read to your kid at least model reading by pretending to do so.
Nobody should contribute 20% to their healthcare. It’s a disgrace that some do.
Education in this country is a joke all over. It’s not because of teachers making too much or how much you have to pay in healthcare.
Ted Cohen, the bond that was passed for BHS has nothing to do with teacher’s salaries. It’s only common sense that a school that was built in the 60s was going to need some upgrades by 2019, and those upgrades have been deferred too long. Six academic buildings with unheated, outdoor walkways and outdated everything- plumbing, electric, insulation, windows…you name it. BHS hasn’t changed appreciably since I graduated in 1976. The bond covers more than ramps, but ramps are a necessary part, so differently abled students can attend school without being treated like second class citizens. You think it’s a joke. I encourage you to take a walk through the old complex. I assure you, after your trip in the “Way Back Machine” via the many ramps, stairways and corridors illustrating the old saying, “You can’t get there from here” you won’t be laughing.
It sounds like this crack squad of commenters – Ted Cohen, Penelope & Jimmm – need to spend a day or two in the Burlington schools and put all of their expertise to use. Im sure itll be a walk in the park! Cant wait to see those test scores surge!
If every parent in this forum claiming that teachers aren’t paid enough is happy that her kid can’t read or do math, all the power to you.
Item:
* Vermont spends twice – twice – as much of your hard-earned tax money as the national average on elementary education.
* Vermont spends more of your hard-earned tax money yearly on education – $21,000 per student – than every other state.
https://www.edweek.org/ew/collections/qual…
Yet despite all the tax money that Vermont spends, six out of 10 Vermont kids are illiterate by the time they reach junior-high school.
They can’t do basic math or English.
So if the parents of illiterate kids are happy spending $70 million of their hard-earned tax money to build ramps at the high school in Vermont’s largest city, we’re happy too.
Unfortunately, their kids can’t read when they get to that high school.
Mr. Cohen’s math skills need work, both in comprehension and in calculation.
He makes multiple mistakes.
First, he uses Ed Week’s numbers, which are cost-adjusted.
Second, he confuses per pupil (a ratio) spending with overall spending (the whole enchilada). Different things entirely.
Third, the national per pupil spending is $12,526. Twice this would be $25,052. Vermont’s per pupil spending is $20,795. So it’s not even close to twice.
A_Trout,
So, you’re satisfied with a 40 percent literacy rate?
Great.
Go in there and teach those kids Ted Cohen! We need your skills!! Decoding, fluency, phonics… behavior management! …show these teachers how its done! Dont worry about generational poverty, dyslexia, trauma, basic needs not being met. You got this!
JHLT123,
So, Vermont spends more tax money per student than any other state, yet 60 percent of the kids are illiterate.
You’re a teacher, so can you splain the disparity in spending and results – or lack thereof?
That’s all we’re asking. Pretty straightforward question, don’t ya think?
Sorry, but “generational poverty,” “dyslexia,” and “trauma” don’t splain away the lack of results in the face of such massively disproportionate spending.
Why would you think that, Mr. Cohen? Deflect much from your errors?
TED COHEN, if you dont think issues related to poverty are a problem in schools Im not sure where to begin…
Its clear that paying teachers less is your solution.
Even though 1/5 of teachers leave the profession before their 4th year because its not worth it. This attrition rate impacts low-performing, high poverty schools, like Burlington, VT (1/3 of BSD teachers have left in the past three years) the most. Discussing the achievement gap is a waste of time if we dont discuss closing the teaching quality gap we are constantly rebuilding staff. An inordinate amount of capital both human and financial is consumed by the constant process of hiring and replacing beginning teachers who leave before they have mastered the ability to create a successful learning culture for students.
And youre saying teachers should be paid less?
The funny thing is that teachers are the only profession I can think of that blatantly ties their level of effort to their level of compensation and gets away with it: “Pay me more or your kid gets the half-arsed education, he has a nice future, be a shame if something were to ‘happen’ to it.”