MAPS Declines 'No on 2' Proposal
The Michigan Association of School Boards recently asked the Marquette Area Public Schools Board of Education to adopt a resolution supporting a ‘no’ vote on Michigan Proposal 2.
Tonight, the school board refused to go along with that.
Proposal 2 would create a constitutional right in Michigan to collective bargaining.
Teachers and others said to the board tonight that the board should not support a ‘no’ vote because Marquette isn’t like other Michigan school districts and its teachers aren’t like teachers working elsewhere.
School board member Laura Songer says she would like the Marquette Area Education Association to follow that line of thinking and not be like other teachers’ unions in Michigan, and she says she believes that’s possible.
Board member Rich Rossway says this is a divisive issue.
He says the board and the district’s unions have improved their relations with one another during Debbie Veiht’s tenure as superintendent, and he says he doesn’t want to do anything to change that.
The board refused to consider the ‘no on 2’ resolution, saying it should not take an official position one way or the other.
It also refused to consider a ‘no on proposal 5’ resolution for the same reason.
The Michigan Association of School Boards opposes Proposals 2 and 5.
It’s asked school boards across Michigan to adopt resolutions to do the same.