On May 14, over 200 members of the Plainedge Federation of Teachers met to discuss the next steps in the prolonged contract dispute between the Plainedge Board of Education and the teachers and teacher-assistants.

The teachers have been working without a contract since June 30, 1996 and the teacher-assistants since June 30, 1995. Despite many activities by the teachers to highlight their frustration and concern about the plight of education in their schools, very little progress had been made during the few negotiations sessions that had previously taken place. The latest of these broke down at 1:30 a.m. on April 28 after 6 hours, instead of the all-night session promised to the community by the board. The board of education then published the negotiating positions of each party.

The purpose of this May 14 meeting was to review these positions and to determine what could be done to move the intransigent board to negotiate a fair and equitable contract. A motion was made to accept the package the board was offering, which included a salary freeze for two years, then minimum wage increases that totaled 71/2 percent over 5 years, additional working days and hours of extra help per week, which equaled an 8 percent increase in teacher work. The teachers unanimously rejected the board's package.

Teachers then had the opportunity to speak from their hearts of their feelings during this difficult time. Many bemoaned the fact that "education is not important to this district anymore," since this board is "totally financially driven." A second motion was made. This was to give decision-making power to the Executive Council of the Federation to do whatever is necessary to end the contract dispute. This motion passed by an overwhelming majority, with no negative votes and only five abstentions.

The executive council is meeting soon to discuss their next actions.

Bea Baaden

PFT Publicity Chairperson