Ridgefield teachers to strike if demands not met

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The water has boiled over in at least one teacher pay discussion as the Ridgefield Education Association has voted to strike effective Aug. 29 unless a better salary schedule is approved.

In an Aug. 17 action REA voted near-unanimously to strike effective Aug. 29 if their demands for greater compensation were not met. If it occurs it is the first of such strikes to happen to the district, according to a REA, and would be done so as a “last resort” in what the union is calling deliberations over a fair contract for their teachers.

REA listed the main issues it has with the district. It levels that the district is offering “far less” than what a $2.6 million bump in state funding would allow. Class sizes were another issue, with REA stating the district was in the top-10 of overcrowded districts based on teacher-to-student ratio. 

“The district is receiving an additional $950,000 year to hire teachers to lower class size,” REA said, adding that the district is still refusing to agree to class size reductions.



Other issues alleged by the union were special education caseloads being currently too much and outdated curriculum resources.

During negotiations, the district also sent out a news release acknowledging the ongoing talks. It noted that RSD would receive $2 million less in current local levy funding due to new school funding laws if applied to the past school year’s revenues, though overall the district’s general fund revenues were up nearly 10 percent, or $3.2 million.