WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — The Williamsburg-James City County School Board voted down the idea of allowing collective bargaining among division employees in a Tuesday night meeting.
Following a months-long process that saw lots of public input on both sides of the issue during the board’s meetings, only two board members voted in support of collective bargaining.
In the meantime, however, board members indicated their support for a process by which they could get more input from school division employees, including teachers. Deputy Superintendent Dr. Daniel Keever said a presentation could come back to the board on that topic as soon as Oct. 1.
Board Member Randy Riffle said he was supporting collective bargaining because it had been part of his values since before he joined the board.
“I’m unapologetically going to be on the side of workers today, because these workers are some of the hardest-working people I know,” he said. “Every teacher we hire has the students’ best interests at heart, and they just want a chance to get more of their fair share and support their fellow workers.”
Board Member Amy Chen was the other vote in support of collective bargaining, although she said she’d struggled with the topic.
“I’ve yet to meet a teacher in this division who does not go above and beyond and does not put students’ needs first,” she said. “I believe they just want to bring hope and opportunity and they want to work with us. We’re saying no without having something better in place.”
However, other members said they wanted to try to work outside of the confines of collective bargaining first.
“I still believe that we can get to what the teachers need to be supportive without collective bargaining and the financial responsibilities that come with it,” said Parliamentarian Kimberley Hundley.
Vice Chair Andrea Donnor said she doesn’t like the way collective bargaining exists in Virginia.
“When I look at collective bargaining in the state of Virginia, one of the things that gives me pause is the ways in which it is set up is purposefully weak and doesn’t, I think, support unions in the way that they are constructed in other places,” she said.
Donnor also noted that it doesn’t make sense to move toward collective bargaining right now as the communities wrestle over a potential split of the district to separate Williamsburg schools from James City County schools.
Board Member Michael Hosang said he does not support collective bargaining because he believed it would have a cooling effect on the relationship among the board, superintendent, and employees.
“We have a great opportunity to continue our relationship with our employees,” Hosang said.
Keever said the employee input process under consideration could tentatively include meetings on job satisfaction and responsibilities, resources and support, work environment and culture, and communication and decision-making.
