BOE Announces Tentative Deal With Teachers

At on Tuesday morning dozens of people came out to support the Howell Township Education Association while negotiations were held inside. 

Board of Education President and Labor Committee member Tim O'Brien said the session, which was supposed to go until 6 p.m. extended to 6 a.m. and eventually ended with a tentative agreement. "There are at least three of us up here who are operating on a sleep deficit right now," he said at Wednesday's meeting. "Maybe four if I count Mr. (Ron) Sanasac."

After 20 hours of negotiations O'Brien said he was pleased with the results but could not release more details about the contract until the union had ratified the deal. "I'd like to thank the labor committee, Mr. Sanasac and everyone else for their diligence and their effort in taking a 20 hour session to get the job done," he said. 

Although they were not expecting to work through the night at the school, O'Brien said it was the right thing to do given the situation. "That was the original intent," he said of the planned eight hour session. "But then the needs of the situation demanded that we buckle down and spend more time working together."

O'Brien said he was unsure of when the union would bring the contract to a vote or when the process as a whole would come to an end.