New Berlin Teachers Submit Resignations From Voluntary Committees

In a dramatic demonstration, hundreds of New Berlin teachers dressed in black walked into their principals' offices at the end of the school day Monday (October 13) and handed in papers of resignation from voluntary committees.

At Eisenhower High School, about 40 teachers walked one by one into the superintendent's office and piled their resignation papers on his secretary's desk. The scene was recorded by news cameras from three Milwaukee television stations. Superintendent James Benfield, whose office is located at the school, had left for the day.

Most teachers "resigned" from a number of committees, including School Effectiveness Teams, the district Strategic Planning Committee, the homework help team, benchmark committees in math and science, Market Day (a fund-raising project), technology committees, and other curriculum and special project groups. About two-thirds of the staff serve on committees, and some teachers served on as many as five committees.

Orchard Lane Elementary, one of the smaller schools, had 11 committees. There are about 120 committees district-wide.

Although there is no requirements for submitting resignations from voluntary duties, the teachers did it to draw attention to the many duties they perform without pay. The teachers have decided to stop performing duties not required by their contract as a protest to stalled contract negotiations. Like teachers in about 300 districts in the state, New Berlin teachers have been working without a contract since July 1.

New Berlin teachers have taken a variety of actions to protest the school board's unwillingness to negotiate. On various occasions they have worn black to work; they attended a mediation session en masse, dressed in black; they held a rally outside a school board meeting; and now they are beginning to restrict their work to the rule of the contract.

Posted October 14, 1997