BREWER, Maine — Brewer teachers and school committee members have been stalled in their contract negotiations and are operating under an agreement that expired in August 2013.
“We have reached an impasse and are in the process of going to mediation,” Brewer Education Association President Fred Ravan said Monday night at a Brewer School Committee meeting where several teachers voiced their concerns.
Teachers said certain language changes the school committee has sought in the updated contract would “take away educator voice in the amount of teacher preparation time,” allow the superintendent to appoint teachers to extracurricular or co-curricular activities without the teachers’ input, and eliminate contract language that requires teachers to be properly certified.
Negotiations have been ongoing since spring 2013. Ravan said neither pay nor benefits are among the Brewer Education Association’s concerns regarding the contract.
Late in the meeting, school committee members went into executive session to discuss the status of contract negotiations. Committee Chairman Kevin Forrest said in an email Tuesday morning that the committee took no action as result of that executive session.
When asked for his response to the teachers’ concerns, Forrest said, “I fail to see how ‘forcing’ a teacher to take an extracurricular activity that they have no interest or experience in would benefit our students.”
Details of contract negotiations are confidential under state statute.
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