What to Know
- The Franklin Lakes Education Association voted to strike Monday morning, the state teachers' union NJEA said in a statement on its website
- The Franklin Lakes Education Association, which represents the teachers, said its 267 members were walking out
- The Bergen County district has four schools covering kindergarten to eighth grade and more than 1,100 students
A New Jersey school district canceled classes on Monday after teachers went on strike over issues including health care costs.
The Franklin Lakes Education Association voted to strike Monday morning, the state teachers' union NJEA said in a statement on its website.
"Without meaningful relief from the crushing cost of imposed health care contributions, current district educators cannot afford to continue working and prospective educators will not be willing to come to Franklin Lakes," NJEA's leadership said in the statement.
But by Monday afternoon, a judge ordered the teachers back to work on Tuesday.
The Franklin Lakes Education Association, which represents the teachers, said its 267 members were walking out after what they described as two years without a contract.
The union president told News 4 that both sides met briefly Monday morning, as teachers dressed in mostly black marched in front of the middle school.
The Bergen County district has four schools covering kindergarten to eighth grade and more than 1,100 students. The school year is scheduled to end June 21.
The Franklin Lakes Board of Educatino said it was seeking emergency court action ordering the teachers back to work. It also said it only learned of the strike Monday morning and initiated a reverse 911 call to notify parents. Any students who arrived at school were supervised by district administrators until they could be released to a guardian, the statement said.
Local
"Despite the Union’s assertions, the Board has sought to engage in constructive dialogue throughout this process; it is the Union that has refused to meet unless the Board first agreed to certain pre-conditions. Most recently, the Board President and the Union’s representative from the New Jersey Education Association (the “NJEA”) met for direct negotiations on a number of occasions beginning in April and continuing through Sunday evening (last night, June 9)," the Board said. "Although it appeared the parties were very close to mutually acceptable terms, today’s Union action calls into question their commitment to resolving this dispute. The Board nevertheless met with the Union’s representatives as scheduled at 9:00 am this morning and agreed to a follow up meeting for further negotiations."
