PONTIAC, Mich. (WXYZ) — Pontiac teachers, secretaries and paraeducators rallied before Monday's school board meeting as their contract dispute reaches 294 days without an agreement.
The rally follows our "Let's Talk" event last week, where Pontiac teachers shared their concerns. Educators are demanding an end to the contract battle after working almost an entire school year without a new deal.
Watch Jolie Sherman's video report below:
Their demands include higher pay, better resources and reduced classroom sizes.
Paraprofessional Janice Morgan said the current situation forces staff to follow an outdated agreement.
"It means that we need to abide by the rules of the old contract, which is outdated. It needs to be updated to reflect the times we’re in now. It needs to reflect the responsibilities that we have," Morgan said.
History teacher Scott Rutherford highlighted the issue of large class sizes.
"Of my five classes, four of them were over the district limit, which was 35. One of them had over 50 students in it," Rutherford said.
Rutherford was one of many teachers at the meeting, where some chairs featured signs reading "At my second job."
"Some of you are educators. You tell me, what grade do you give an A paper when it's 10 months late?" Rutherford said.
Students also attended the meeting to support the educators.
"It’s just really sad to see how many teachers are out here trying to fight for one thing, and them being out here should really mean something to everyone," said 11th grader De'Onnie Peoples, whose mother is paraprofessonal.
School board members provided comments at the end of the meeting, with some acknowledging the concerns.
"I know what you’re saying — I’ve lived it as well. So, I’m very empathetic to you and your situation," Board Trustee Jennifer Douley said.
Other board members said the union and the school district need to come to an agreement to move forward. When I asked how progress is possible when teachers say negotiation meetings are often rescheduled, School Board President Dr. Anisha Hannah denied knowing about the issue.
"Yeah, we’re not aware that that’s not what we’re hearing at all," Hannah said.
In response to the board's comments, one educator expressed frustration over the lack of awareness.
"I tried to tell them that here tonight, and what do we get? We get a bunch of well, we didn’t know that. We’re not at the table. We want them to see what we’re going through, and what we’re asking for is not reasonable things. We want smaller class sizes for crying out loud," the educator said.
Next Sunday will mark 300 days without a contract. The school board said they hope to approve a three-year contract as opposed to a one-year agreement.
—————
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
