Tulsa School Board Declares Impasse With Support Worker's Union

By Ashli Sims, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- We could learn about more furloughs for Tulsa Public School employees, in the days ahead.

The Tulsa School Board could vote Tuesday to expand the number of workers who will have to take days off without pay.

More than 1,000 year-long employees are already taking three furlough days.

Now TPS is considering furlough days for ten-month employees, like principals and assistant principals.

Tulsa Public School leaders say it could trim another $120,000 from the budget.

In other news, Tulsa Public Schools is declaring an impasse in its negotiations with the support workers union.

The support union delivered pennies to school board members last month to try to convince them to give a 28 cent raise.

They claim the district signed a handwritten agreement and is now going back on its word.

The school district says no such agreement exists and now they will have to take legal action.

"Ms. Simon has totally failed to address the factual evidence previously released by the district," said Dr. Keith Ballard, TPS Superintendent. "This leaves me no choice but to declare impasse. I have directed the district's legal counsel to immediately initiate that process."

The union representative has a different story.

"We find it ironic that Superintendent Ballard asserts that his Jan. 5 memo addresses false information, then proceeds to misrepresent the union, the law and the negotiation process on several fronts," said Kelly Simon, AFT Local 6049. "The most disturbing aspect of the TPS memo is that it was distributed to the media, publicizing aspects of contract talks during ongoing negotiations; a clear and direct violation of bargaining rules."