Crisis in Government as Teachers Continue to Protest; Mapp Administration Halts Negotiations
ST. CROIX — It was only Thursday afternoon that Governor Kenneth Mapp himself stopped near the Gas City Service Station in La Grand Princesse, where Elena Christian Jr. High School educators were protesting wages and working conditions. Housed at Manor School, some teachers say they don’t have classrooms to teach in, and others questioned why construction that had been ongoing to prepare the former small private school for instruction, had suddenly stopped.
“You have every right to advocate for your interests. You have no negatives in that from me at all,” the governor said to the protesters.
Today, however, union negotiators were escorted off a premises where salary negotiations were ongoing, after the Mapp-appointed chief negotiator, Natalie Nelson Tang How, abruptly halted talks and refused to discuss counter proposals that the union bargaining team was prepared to submit. According to a release the American Federation Of Teachers (AFT) issued today, Mrs. Tang How simply declared there was nothing more to discuss and then directed her staff to escort the union negotiators out the back door.
The Mapp administration also requested that the unions cease and desist the protests, contending that they had violated their contracts, and Rosa Soto-Thomas, president of St. Croix AFT, said she has since directed AFT educators to follow the order — as it pertains to wage increases — until September 30, which is when the month-to-month AFT contract ends.
Read more: https://viconsortium.com/education/crisis-in-government-as-teachers-continue-to-protest-mapp-administration-halts-negotiations/