TROY, Mich. – With a sense of urgency, hundreds of Troy teachers picketed outside the school board meeting Tuesday night.
The teachers expressed discontent over the lack of a contract since Feb. 1.
“We have a mass exodus,” said Sara Ritter. “We’re losing our brand new teachers and our midlevel teachers.”
Ritter, leading the union’s crisis response, is at the forefront of the Troy Education Association’s efforts to address the current situation.
Undoubtedly, pay stands as the most crucial issue in the negotiations.
“Our team came prepared and came ready before the contract expired with everything we needed,” said Union Treasurer Jennifer Smith.
Smith says they were greeted by an administration that wasn’t prepared.
Superintendent Dr. Richard Machesky declined an on-camera interview but told Local 4 that the administration had approached the union in November 2023.
Machesky added that there is a lot of misinformation about the bargaining situation, which the administration characterized as positive and productive.
Hundreds of teachers packed the school board meeting on May 21. Before they approached the podium board, President Karl Schmidt told the crowd Lansing needed to fund public education better.
“The administration seeks a competitive compensation package,” said Schmidt.
The crowd told the board it should be embarrassed by the current state of bargaining.
“All of this is just so unnecessary,” said Jennifer Smith. “We don’t have a contract; we want a world-class contract from this world-class district.”