Once again, a vote by the Pulaski County School Board to withdraw recognition from the Pulaski County Association of Classroom Teachers has been nullified by Circuit Judge Tim Fox.
In a ruling Monday, Fox also ordered the school board and the teachers union to begin mediation of their differences and report back in three weeks.
The Board voted in December 2009 to stop recognizing PACT as the bargaining agent for the district’s teachers. PACT sued, and Fox ruled April 8 that the board had exceeded its authority. After making changes in some school policies, the board voted again on April 20 to withdraw recognition of PACT. That vote was nullified Monday.
Fox is a candidate for the Arkansas Supreme Court, having finished second in a three-person race in May. He will be on the ballot in November opposing Appeals Court Judge Karen Baker, who got 48 percent
of the vote to Fox’s 37 percent in May.
— Doug Smith
Here’s a little background on today’s story, from Doug.