Teachers in Burlington are on strike this morning after the union and school board were unable to reach a contract agreement.
Members of the Burlington Education Association were ready to start the strike Wednesday, but held off when a former federal mediator invited the two sides to meet, along with Burlington mayor Miro Weinberger.
In a press release, Fran Brock, a history teacher at Burlington High School and president of the union, said a compromise was reached on health insurance and salaries during the Wednesday meeting.
But Brock said that the board wanted to place too many non-teaching duties on elementary school teachers.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been trying to get the board to understand that elementary teachers are having too much of their time drawn away from one-on-one interaction with students,鈥� Brock said. 鈥淎nd now, for more than three years, they still won鈥檛 budge.鈥�
A statement from the Burlington School Board said they entered the mediation session Wednesday 鈥渦nderstanding the primary obstacle to settlement was resolving operational issues at the high school鈥� and that those issues were resolved in the mediation sessions.
The board said that the union brought additional demands, and the board responded by offering a three year contract with a total salary increase of over 8 percent, and addition health insurance savings.
The Burlington Free Press reports imposed by the school board earlier this month but have not yet voted to strike.
