By JENNIFER CLAISE
Staff Writer

After teachers overwhelmingly rejected a proposed three-year contract earlier this month, the city teachers’ union has asked its members to end all unpaid work and to stick to the hours specified in their contract.

While school officials in Bedford, Hooksett, Candia and Auburn – whose high school students attend the city’s schools – say they are keeping an eye on the situation, they have no power to control it.

On Oct. 5, only 116 of about 800 teachers who turned out to vote approved the contract, which would have given them a 2 percent annual raise. The vote went against union leadership, which had hoped for the contract to pass, according to Ellen Healy, president of the Manchester Education Association, which represents the city’s 1,300 teachers.

Healy, who teaches English at Central High School, said teachers feel disrespected by the school board, by both the contract and by their actions earlier this summer.

Specifically, she said the school board granted promotions and 12.5 percent pay raises to two administrators, which amounted to about $12,000 each. Additionally, the proposed contract would have ended 100 percent health care coverage for couples who are both teachers, or a teacher and a city worker.

“Absolutely, this has been a slap in the face to teachers,” Healy said. “This school board has chosen where to give the money, and it’s certainly not to the teachers.”

In response, Healy said most of the teachers have begun working from 7:35 a.m. until 2:38 p.m., and have been entering and leaving the buildings as a group.

The goals of this move, Healy said, are to make people aware of when teachers are obligated to be in school, and to increase visibility for the teachers.

It is illegal for teachers to go on strike.

Healy said teachers will leave one afternoon a week free for make-up work, but students who need to do make-up work or who seek extra help on other days will need to schedule it during the school day. But sports and other extracurricular activities – which teachers are paid extra for – shouldn’t be affected, she said.

Furthermore, teachers are free to correct student work and write college recommendations on their own time, Healy said.

“I don’t think we’re having an impact on the students at all,” Healy said. “They aren’t going to suffer at all because of this.”

But Mayor Bob Baines disagreed.

In a letter dated Oct. 14, Baines urged Healy and the union leadership to end what he called a “work-to-rule” job action, which he described as divisive.

“It is my experience that these job actions create personal animosity that can linger for years,” said Baines, who was principal at Manchester High School West from 1980 to 1999. “This does have an impact on our students.”

If there is an effect, Manchester Memorial High School Principal Arthur Adamakos said he’s yet to see it.

“The teachers have been peaceful and orderly,” Adamakos said. “From what I’ve seen, there’s been a minimal impact to the kids.”

Armand LaSelva, superintendent of SAU 15, which represents Hooksett, Candia and Auburn, said he has not heard from parents concerned about how this move might affect their children.

Bedford Superintendent Ann Remus also said she wasn’t aware of any problems arising from the teachers’ actions, and has not gotten any feedback from parents.

Candia School Board Chairman Karen Smith, who has a ninth-grade daughter at Central, also has not heard of any problems or concerns, but said the board is trying to stay on top of the situation. “We are allowed to speak up at the Manchester meetings as school board members, but we can’t vote,” Smith said.

Healy said new contract talks were scheduled to start the week of Oct. 25 with a new MEA negotiations team. If these fail, Healy said the parties could seek the help of a professional mediator.