| Updated: 8/19/2010 8:31 am |
Published: 8/18/2010 5:25 pm |
Teachers in the Pulaski County Special School District, PCSSD, say they're sticking with their current union and their current contract. They voted against a measure that would have put a new set off personnel policies in place, getting rid of the existing contract.
An overwhelming 84 percent of teachers and staff voted against the personnel policies suggested by the Personnel Policies Committee. One one school board member called the decision disappointing.
The Personnel Policies Committee, PPC, started around 5:00 p.m. and it didn't take lokg before they had all the votes tallied. Of the nearly 1,400 that voted 1,140 didn't want the new policies. The PCSSD board voted Monday to approve the policies before sending them on to teachers for a vote.
"I think its very important for all employees to be able to speak up," says Deborah Coley with PCSSD.
The district says if the teachers had voted yes, the PPC made of seven employeesm would have replaced the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers, PACT.
"The teachers who were certified teachers in this district disagreed with it which is exactly what we expected," says PACT president Marty Nix.
PACT president Marty Nix says its an illegal violation of the contract with pact to create the Personnel Policies Committee and individual teachers filed a lawsuit against the district because of it. But for now the PPC is still in place.
As for what happens next," "We'll visit with the attornies to determine where we go from here," says PCSSD Vice President of Human Resources Deborah Coley.
And Board Vice President Charlie Wood said on the phone he's disappointed because teachers are still allotted 30 days off and the new policies would have changed that. Wood also said the PPC will remain in place, its still valid. But its still unclear exactly what role it will play because the district still recognizes PACT. Again, the district officials will talk about this Thursday morning. And the board will most likely be discussing it soon as well.
