By Bill Lawson
Stephens Media
LITTLE ROCK — The Pulaski County Special School District School Board voted today to give teachers and staff a 2 percent salary increase, but the move didn’t stop union members from voting for a one-day work stoppage.
In a special called meeting, the board voted to give teachers the raise retroactive to the beginning of the school year and to increase their monthly insurance contributions by $30.49 each month.
This action came just 16 hours after the board voted not to deal with union representatives.
These two items were sticking points in negotiations that disintegrated Tuesday.
Board president Tim Clark said he was unsure if the action would placate union leaders.
Shortly after the board action, unions representing the district’s teachers and support staff met at Arkansas Education Association headquarters near the state capitol and voted on a one-day work stoppage on Thursday.
The “sick out,” as teachers call it, is something that the district is prepared to handle, spokesperson Deb Rausch said.
Administrators and parent volunteers will fill in for absent teachers, Clark said.
During Tuesday’s board meeting, Emry Chesterfield, president of the Pulaski Association of Support Staff, a union representing school bus drivers and support staff, delivered an enthusiastic speech ending with a personal comment to board president Tim Clark.
“Mr. Clark, you’ve got to remember your kids are at home,” he said.
Clark responded, “Mr. Chesterfield, that doesn’t make any sense.”
Chesterfield retorted, “Well, you didn’t have to say what you said to me.”
Board members then called for a break in the meeting. Chesterfield and about 50 other union members, mostly teachers, left the meeting.
On Friday, the union representatives and board negotiators had reached a tentative agreement on the contract between the district and both unions that expired last summer.
In the agreement, teachers and support staff were to receive a 2 percent salary increase. One of the sticking points was a requested $30 increase in what the district paid toward health care benefits.
Board member Charlie Wood of Sherwood, who had been a lone voice suggesting the district withdraw its recognition of both unions, immediately took the opportunity to move that the board do just that. The other union is the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers.
Other board members supported the idea, and Wood tried to suspend the rules to allow his motion to be heard, since it was not on the agenda.
Following an argument over parliamentary procedure, new board attorney Paul Blume advised the board it didn’t have to follow Robert’s Rules of Order, which requires a super majority, or two-thirds of the board, to suspend the rules.
The board took a break and sent the required two-hour notice of a special called board meeting at 10 p.m. to consider Wood’s motion.
In the late-night session the motion to withdraw recognition passed 4-2, but not until after board member Bill Vasquez of Jacksonville made an impassioned plea that the board put aside its emotion and rethink the issue. He also said it would be devastating to the district to show up in federal court next month to seek unitary status with protesters carrying signs.
He predicted the move would prevent the courts from declaring the district free of its federal oversight on desegregation issues and possibly even lead the court to order consolidation of districts as it threatened years ago.
Wood argued that North Little Rock received praise for not dealing with unions.
Gwen Williams, board member from North Little Rock, chastised the board and said, “We need to do what’s best for children.”
She and Vasquez were the only votes opposing the motion.
What prompted the angry comments from union representatives was the cancellation of a special called board meeting at 5:45 p.m. to approve the contract. Clark canceled the meeting, saying it became apparent that all the issues weren’t settled.
Chesterfield’s comments before his remark about Clark’s children were mostly directed toward the district’s negotiating staff members, whom he ridiculed. He also questioned their religion.
“I don’t know how y’all can live with yourselves. You call yourselves Christians. It’s ridiculous!” he said.
Several calls to union representatives for comments after the meeting were not returned.
Marty Nix, president of the teachers union, said after the meeting that if recognition was withdrawn that was a breach of the existing contract, which continues until a new one is in place. She said she would not rule out a strike by the unions.
