BOSTON (WHDH) - Boston Public School teachers staged a walk-in on Friday.
Teachers are calling on the school department to negotiate a fair contract with the Boston Teachers Union.
The school district wants to increase class sizes and stop holding positions for mothers who take more than six-month maternity leaves.
More than 100 schools participated in the walk-in.
The Boston Teachers Union contract expires on Aug. 31.
Boston Public Schools released a statement Friday:
The Boston Public Schools and the Boston Teachers Union share deeply in the belief of producing a contract that is beneficial for our valued educators and, most importantly, serves the needs of our students. BPS has been working very closely with the BTU to achieve this goal before the end of August, when the current contract ends.
It’s important that our teachers advocate for what they care about. The BTU and its members are passionate about education in Boston, just as we are in the school district. Our goal is clear: to have a contract that furthers our mission of providing a high-quality education to all students, closing the achievement and opportunity gaps and ensuring every student graduates college- and career-ready. We both have key priorities that we care strongly about, and it takes time for both parties to work through these priorities and come up with a contract that both sides can embrace.At the onset of the negotiations, both BPS and the BTU agreed to ground rules prohibiting either side from publicly divulging details of contract discussions. Releasing details of the contract talks, before they have been accepted, violates the mutually agreed upon decision to negotiate in good faith. We stand by each of our proposals because they will ensure that all of our students will have access to effective teachers and paraprofessionals on a consistent basis throughout the school year. That is why we have had 11 five-hour-long negotiating sessions over the past five months, with the frequency of those meetings increasing in early May to one per week. Additionally, there are eight full-day negotiating sessions scheduled over the next two months.
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