No contract deal reached for Ann Arbor teachers as negotiations continue
Ann Arbor Public School teachers are asking for a higher salary, but say the school board wants them to trade originally agreed-upon benefits to get there.
That's why many in the community were publicly supporting their educators during Wednesday night's school board meeting.
Given the anticipated crowd, the Ann Arbor Education Association held a school board watch party where dozens came out.
"We want our district to be successful, but Ann Arbor teachers are tired of them balancing their budgets on our backs," said Tamala Bell, vice president of the Ann Arbor Education Association.
During her 23 years of working in AAPS, Bell said her contract has only expired once and that happened in 1994.
She said the reason why teachers are in these circumstances is due to the board not agreeing on the wage teachers want.
"Teachers haven't had a cost-of-living raise since 2006, and at that time that was 2.5% increase," said Bell.
Until a deal is reached, teachers are cutting back.
Bell says teachers are not critiquing students work after school, or hosting clubs that are run by educators, which means students are going without.
"It's actually excruciating. It's really hard for us because we love our students. But we also have to keep in mind that our working conditions are our students' learning conditions," Bell said.
And the contract dispute is personal for teacher Matthew Johnson.
"As somebody who went to Ann Arbor Public Schools, whose children go to Ann Arbor Public Schools, it's wonderful to see this," Johnson said about the community response.
"We have wonderful teachers. We have incredible teachers. For a long time, Ann Arbor was the destination district," he said.
But Johnson and other teachers say they are having a hard time filling positions. Teachers also are leaving mid-year because of the salary range.
The board could not make a decision at the board meeting, nor could they comment on what people had to say during public comment. But teachers tell CBS News Detroit they will be meeting with state mediators all day Thursday in hopes of getting closer to a contract.
