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Boston, City's Teachers Union To Meet On Contract Again

Boston Public School officials and the city's teachers union are scheduled to meet Tuesday to try once again to end a more than two-year-long contract dispute.

Boston Teachers Union President Richard Stutman says the union wants to reach an agreement but has already offered to accept a lower pay raise.

"So to ask us to go further without having the school district come along is insulting to us," Stutman said. "They have yet to make an offer that even touches the surface of what we’re looking for."

He adds that teachers need more social workers, nurses, special education help in autistic classes and some smaller class sizes.

"None of those items personally enriches any of our members," Stutman said, "but they all help deliver services to our students."

School Department spokesman Matt Wilder says the city already compromised in saying it will adopt the state model for a new teacher evaluation system.

"We believe we've put forth a proposal that does resolve the main issues of this contract, which is teacher evaluations, and every time we come to a point where we believe we've reached something, the [BTU] leadership has presented new things that need to be negotiated.

"We're not willing to resolve this just for the sake of resolving it," Wilder added. "It has to be a contract that works for kids and really ensures that they have the very best teachers in their classrooms."

If the two sides can't reach a deal Tuesday, a state mediator will step in.

This program aired on September 11, 2012. The audio for this program is not available.

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