Brown Deer School Board rejects teachers' counter offer on new contract

Brown Deer School Board President Gary Williams called a special School Board meeting to order at 7 p.m. and by 7:01, it was over as member Lisa Zielinski quickly moved to adjourn the meeting that was called Monday night to discuss a contract counter proposal from the Brown Deer Education Association.

By a 4-3 vote, the board adjourned, preferring to allow the Budget Repair Bill to go into effect rather than taking an 11th hour action on a contract with teachers.

The union and board have been negotiating a contract over the last six weeks, but the work appeared to end when the union rejected the district's offer on June 22.

Lisa Albers, who is the chief negotiator for the union, said after looking at the proposal again, the union decided to accept it with some modifications and notified the district Monday night about 5 p.m.

Miguel Salas, the director of Lakewood Uniserv, a division of WEAC, said the union was concerned about layoffs in the current financial climate and wanted the district to consider seniority and the needs of the district as two factors when making layoff decisions.

Zielinski said she moved to adjourn because the board did not want the meeting.

"I did it so we would not have to vote on the matter at hand," she said. She got support from members Barry Godshaw, Leslie Galloway-Sherard and Williams.

Any member of a School Board can request a special meeting. Williams requested the meeting Monday as the School Board met for its regular monthly meeting. Dennis Lowder, Dennis Griffin and Kathy Stresman voted against adjourning.

After the meeting reached its speedy conclusion, at least 10 residents attending the meeting thanked Zielinski, shaking her hand.