Teachers at Wayne-Westland Community Schools call for new contract at board meeting

WESTLAND, Mich. (FOX 2) - Teachers at Wayne-Westland Community Schools have had enough after months without a contract. On Monday, many teachers spoke to the board.

Teachers in the Wayne-Westland School District tamped up pressure on school board members to give them a new deal. They have been working without a contract since August and are fed up, as the cost-of-living climbs.

"We're no longer in the red, we are back in black," said Michigan Education Association director Tonya Karpinski. "They have not received any contractual wage increases, and we have an all-time - the highest historic fund balance."

That balance, equaling to about $40 million, according to the Michigan Education Association. Many of the District's 750 teachers say they have issues with the work environment as well.

"We have teachers working with classrooms that are overloaded," said Karpinski. "We have counselors and speech paths who have their case loads overloaded on grievances that we had previously settled because they have overloaded the contractual maxes."

The teachers and the Wayne-Westland administrators are heading into mediation on Friday, something that hasn't happened since 2008. Many staffers spoke from the heart before the board.

"We are asked to do more, be more, know more, give more even given these uncertain times, and we do," special education teacher Jacquie St. Antoine said to the board.

"We can choose both union and central office to use our hands to climb over and try to tear one another down or, we can use our hands to lift each other up," one expressed in the meeting.

The board largely did not say much in reaction, except to push for the administration to make the district's side of the contract dispute more public.

"I'm led to wonder whether we are able to put our side on our district website and I think that that would help us if we would do that," said board vice president Frederick Weaver.

The district may have a response on its website on Tuesday. It was not too long ago when a clerical error led to the layoffs of several staff members in the district. Since then, union members say some if not all those jobs were brought back.

The old superintendent has left, leaving the district with an interim superintendent.

Meanwhile,any parents voiced their frustration a year prior at the school district after an audit revealed a budget shortfall of $17.6 million.

The district's general fund went from $26.9 million in 2022 to $9.2 million in 2023, after officials believed they had a surplus. The district collected approximately $135 million in revenue but had expenses of $152 million.