School board looks to settle with union

Newly-elected School Committee member says contract is top priority

WOONSOCKET — As a newly-elective School Committee prepares to take control of troubled contract talks with a restive Woonsocket Teachers Guild, Committeeman-elect Paul Bourget says achieving a fair and affordable settlement on wages with union members will be the panel’s top priority.

“It is THE priority,” said Bourget, who is also vice chairman of the existing appointive school committee, which will sit for just one more meeting – tonight – before it’s permanently phased out. “There is nothing more important than resolving this. It will get rid of work-to-rule. It will get rid of all potential job actions by the union and we can go back to running a school district where the teachers are teaching, children are learning and parents are helping kids.”

Although the WTG and the city already have their respective negotiating teams in place, jurisdiction over the talks transitioned from Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt to the School Committee upon the seating of five members in the Nov. 6 election. While the mayor appointed the city’s negotiating team, Bourget praised its work thus far and called for few changes as the talks – in mediation for some two months – continue.

Bourget said the new

School Committee may add one or two new members to the negotiating team – preferably individuals with expertise in finance and school funding. He said he may also seek to have the School Committee’s legal counsel, Sara A. Rapport, join the panel. Otherwise, he said, he envisions no dramatic changes and hopes the talks can continue apace, with state-appointed mediator Frederic Marzilli, an East Providence lawyer, playing referee.

There were 16 negotiating sessions before the union declared an impasse in late August. Additionally, there have been three more collective bargaining meetings under the direction of a state-appointed mediator, and a fourth is set for Monday.

“We need some catch-up time, but not much,” said Bourget. “We need to learn the numbers, shore up the mediation committee and once we’ve got the numbers we’ve got to come up with a plan.”

Teachers went eight years without a raise heading into the fiscal year than ended on June 30, in which they received a 2 percent hike, plus 2 percent more on the last day of the fiscal cycle because their contract wasn’t renewed. “Frankly,” Bourget said, “teachers deserve a raise” – but it has to be affordable. “It’s not like we’ve got money stuffed away somewhere that we can willy-nilly bring out. You have to keep something in reserve. Unexpected things will happen. Like any budget, if you don’t have any reserves you’ve left yourself open to catastrophe.”

WTG President Jeff Partington says he is optimistic about the future of the talks under the new school committee.

“The only thing I feared originally was that it was going to take time to educate everybody,” said Partington. “But I had a conversation with Mr. Bourget and he assured me it’s going to be as seamless as possible.”

In the run-up to the election, the supposedly confidential bargaining positions of the two sides became unexpectedly public – initially in campaign advertising purchased by Baldelli-Hunt. She disclosed that the union’s last and best offer was a three-year pact with 4 percent raises each year. The WTG responded on Facebook the following day, asserting that its position was merely a bargaining posture that came in reaction to the city’s last best offer of three annual adjustments of 0 percent, followed by hikes of 1.5 and 1.75 percent. r Partington, who represents about 650 teachers and paraprofessionals, said yesterday the union has altways been flexible.

Shortly after the two sides traded their final offers the WTG declared an impasse and the union has taken a number of job actions since, including multiple highly visible informational picketing sessions, most in front of City Hall. The union has also asked teachers to voluntarily observe work-to-rule guidelines while they are on duty. That means they are pulling back on volunteer extras that are often expected of teachers – such as staying late to provide students with extra help or escorting them to buses.

In the most disruptive action by the union so far – teachers staged an apparent sickout that closed schools last Friday. Supt. Patrick McGee said there weren’t enough substitutes to cover the teacher absences.

The new School Committee can’t begin tackling unresolved contractual issues until it’s sworn in, however, and – with the exception of one member – that isn’t going to happen until Dec. 4, the same night as members of the new City Council, according to Bourget.

The exception was Committeewoman-elect Rebecca Capwell, who was sworn in last week by City Clerk Christina Duarte.

Citing an opinion by City Solicitor John DeSimone, Bourget said the mayor invited all the newly elected school officials to be sworn in last Friday. Bourget said he learned from Rapport – the school committee’s counsel – that DeSimone opined that the new members should be sworn in within 10 days of Nov. 6, in keeping with the City Charter. Technically, school officials were seated in a special election, in which case the charter calls for a swearing-in within the 10-day window.

Bourget said he was able to reach three of the other newly elected members – Donald Burke, Lynn Kapiskas and Eleanor Nadeau – all of whom agreed to refrain from being sworn in at that time. Bourget said they did so because they were either unavailable or they believe the appointive committee should meet one last time to provide the outgoing members – Chairman Soren Seale, Valerie Gonzales and Steve Lima – an opportunity to be thanked for their service and to “say goodbye.”

Despite the solicitor’s ruling, Bourget said, he feels political decorum should take precedence over the charter in this case.

The first gathering of the new School Committee will take place on Dec. 5, when the successor panel will convene a special meeting to elect an interim chairperson, which will allow members to meet in executive session to tend to contract-related issues.

The panel is scheduled to meet again on Dec. 19 to hold a formal organizational meeting during which members will vote to appoint a permanent chairperson and vice chairperson.