After more than two years of unsuccessful negotiations, the Oakland, Calif., school board last week imposed a contract on teachers.
The board voted unanimously for the so-called status quo contract.The board members said the collective bargaining process had failed, and it was time to move forward.
But Ward Rountree, the executive director of the local teachers’ union, equated the board’s actions to a “declaration of war” and said students would suffer.
The previous contract ran from 2005 to 2008. Teachers had called for a 15 percent pay raise, along with smaller caseloads for counselors and nurses and small class sizes. District officials facing a $37 million budget deficit at one point asked teachers to take a 3 percent pay cut.
