SOUTH BURLINGTON EDUCATORS ASSOCIATION

PRESS RELEASE

For Information:
Noah Everitt
802.825.5748 (cell)

September 29, 2017

For Immediate Release

South Burlington Teachers Vote to Begin Strike Oct. 4

South Burlington Educators Association members urge board to return to table to avert
disruption to the school year
SOUTH BURLINGTON A day after the citys school board refused to rescind their imposition
and reach a contract agreement with teachers, members of the South Burlington Educators
Association voted to strike on Oct. 4.
The board had a choice of healing or disruption, said Noah Everitt, a South Burlington High
School special education teacher who serves as the spokesman for the association. Sadly,
driven by ideology, the board chose disruption. The men and women who teach the citys
children are not going to stand by and watch the board plunge the community into a second
straight year of tumult.
The board abruptly ended negotiations last month and voted to impose terms of employment
on the citys teachers. The board was one of only three to impose employment terms this year,
and they are one of only seven in the history of the state to impose terms more than once.
Most boards have never voted to impose in the 50 years of collective bargaining in Vermont.
The board is also becoming an outlier in Chittenden County: over the last two weeks, five other
boards have reached multi-year agreements with their teachers, Everitt noted. What is so
different here than in the rest of the county?
Together with the community, we have built a school system that is one of the best in
Vermont, and is one of the reasons why South Burlington is such a thriving city, Everitt said.
We object strongly to the boards unilateral decision to leave the bargaining table, upending
decades of collaboration. We dont want to strike, but the boards actions leave us no choice.
Everitt said that there is still a chance to avoid a strike. We urge the board to return to the
table, now, and without preconditions, Everitt said. The board can end the months of
disruption weve all been through by reaching a negotiated settlement with us before
Wednesday.
The board is also becoming an outlier in Chittenden County: over the last two weeks, five other
boards have reached multi-year agreements with their teachers, Everitt noted. What is so
different here than in the rest of the county?
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