Written by Tanya Terry, with photos by Tanya Terry
At a recent special meeting, Flint teachers gave a standing ovation after the Flint Community Schools’ Board of Education unanimously voted to approve a proposed contract. The contact is between the administration and the United Teachers of Flint union and settles a labor dispute that was occurring ahead of a plan for a strike.
The board’s decision came after a closed-door session on April 3 during which the teachers and their representative sat patiently waiting for over an hour.
“I want to really say that my heart goes out for the teachers,” stated Board President Dr. Joyce Ellis-McNeal shortly after the board returned from closed session.
Ellis-McNeal added: “Even when you were standing here before us I didn’t just hear you with my eyes. I heard you with my heart.”
Ellis-McNeal said there was still a long battle and everyone whose job was to serve the kids deserved decent pay.
“I’m speaking to the governors and senators now,” said Ellis-McNeal. “We need help to make sure that our teachers never have to come before us demanding something they deserve.”
Ellis-McNeal said she felt the same way about teacher’s paros and secretaries.
She said Flint Schools needed help from “the people at the top” through debt elimination so the district could be rebuilt.
She also said there never was a time when she or the other board members disregarded the teachers.
“I was a guest teacher, and so you know me. And I want to return back – but I had promised when I came on this board – I would not return back to school teaching in the condition that I was teacher in that I saw teacher’s paros teaching in.”
McNeal later said: “We need to get rid of some property. We need people to come to work with us to give fair, fair decent prices for this property so we can keep moving forward.”
After the unanimous vote of the board was met with the standing ovation of the teachers in the audience, the board members also stood and clapped.
Bruce Jordan, MEA UniServ director, talked to the Courier before the vote took place. While he was hopeful for the best possible outcome, he said it didn’t matter whether or not the district had the money to increase pay for teachers. He said the matter at hand was that if an agreement wasn’t reached, the district would need to close.
“It was about getting to the table,” said Jordan after the meeting.
He added: “It was about having a candid conversation with the superintendent and his administration team (with) the union and finding a path forward together.”
Superintendent Kevelin Jones also said it was about coming together and supporting not only the teachers, but also the future of the district.
The board previously voted against a proposed contract.
“There’s some things that will support the teachers, support the district moving forward that we did not have in January,” stated Jones.
The superintendent said the district has been in contact with some state senators to tell them the needs the district has.
He said the Flint Community Schools district gets a lot of grant funds.
“This would not have been an issue if we could have used some of our grant funds to pay employees, but we can’t.” Jones added.
Jones said the sickout in which teachers refused to come to classrooms did not influence the board’s decision, but hearing the teachers did.
According to Jones, the agreement came after 16 hours of meetings the previous week.
He said there will be a press conference on April 10 during which details of the agreement will be revealed.
After the board voted, the teachers, along with their union representatives, met to vote on the contract, also approving it – with 96% voting in favor.
