Kalamazoo teachers still have no contract as mediation goes on

KALAMAZOO — Kalamazoo Public Schools teachers are still working without a contract, for the third year in a row at the start of a school year. Union president Heather Reid told News Channel 3 that the Kalamazoo Education Association and the district have finished two mediation sessions, with another set for the following week. She did not give the date. “We’re trying to find common ground so that we can settle this contract,” she said.

Ava Ray’s story, published Nov. 11, says last year’s deal was not reached until late October, and that this round is the longest of Reid’s presidency. The contract is not only pay. Reid said it sets working conditions and other terms, and that without it “we can’t plan or budget for ourselves and our families.” Michigan teachers cannot strike. The union has used pickets along the Ridge and comments at board meetings instead.

At the Nov. 5 board meeting, Ray reported, speakers questioned the district’s salary comparisons and asked for a deal that matches the work, including class size and extra classroom help. Superintendent Darrin Slade has said KPS already pays some of the highest teacher salaries in the region, and the district has pointed to those salaries and to its finances as its side of the talks. The district told the station it cannot comment while negotiations are open. No agreement has been announced.

What mediation is, and what it has not produced

Reid described mediation as a third party brought in to help the two sides move. Two sessions are done. A third was on the calendar for the week after she spoke. That is not a settlement date. She also said the union wants multi-year contracts later, so teachers are not back at the table every summer and sometimes starting school with no deal. The station did not quote a proposed raise, a district counteroffer, or a class-size number. Those figures are not in this story.

Who is talking, and who is not

The named voices are Reid, Slade’s earlier salary comment, and unnamed speakers at the Nov. 5 meeting. The district’s current position is the sentence that it will not comment. Parents and teachers have used the board microphone. The union says it will keep the community posted. Until a tentative agreement is public, the fact is the absence of one, for a third opening of school.

The photograph is City Hall. It is not the administration building where Ray said a protest and a board meeting were held, and it is not a classroom.

Sources:
WWMT, Ava Ray, “Kalamazoo teachers remain without contract as negotiations continue in mediation,” Nov. 11, 2026, https://wwmt.com/news/local/kalamazoo-teachers-no-contract-ongoing-negotiations-kps-public-school-school-year-local-west-michigan-wwmt
Photo: Carol M. Highsmith, “The Art Deco-style city hall, completed in 1930 in Kalamazoo, Michigan.jpg”, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AThe_Art_Deco-style_city_hall%2C_completed_in_1930_in_Kalamazoo%2C_Michigan.jpg

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Tags: Kalamazoo · Schools · Teachers · Labor