Teachers were picketing out in the freezing cold with snow falling around them before the school day started. They were and are still raising awareness, because they are now working without a contract. Flyers and posters in hand, the teachers try their best to reach as many families as possible to inform them of what is happening. They were hoping they would side with their distress at the lack of a contract. The teachers who were out picketing are in particular part of the teachers’ union. In Michigan, it is illegal for teachers to strike, so in order to achieve a new contract, they have resorted to advocating for change outside of school.
CHS students may have noticed that clubs and organizations that teachers devote extra hours to have suddenly been called off. The reason for this is that teachers employed at Ann Arbor Public Schools (AAPS) are not currently working under a contract; it expired on Dec. 31, 2025.
However, even though there is no agreed-upon contract, that does not mean they are not getting paid. Teachers are working under the same conditions as last year’s contract. For example, teachers are currently being paid the same wages as last year, rather than receiving higher pay based on the number of years they have taught at AAPS.
Without contracts, teachers would be missing benefits such as insurance and wages adjusted with inflation or incentives for seniority. This situation has occurred in many districts before, but is usually resolved in a faster manner. Even as it drags on, the teachers remain optimistic.
A few months ago, during her first year of teaching, CHS math teacher Constance Parker joined the teachers’ union, ready to be a part of the larger teaching community in Ann Arbor at large. The teachers’ union in Ann Arbor is a collective that represents the teachers and is bargaining for their new contracts. Since Parker has joined, she has become more informed on what is happening.
“I assume that the people that are higher up above me are making good choices for the teachers in this district,” Parker said.
The union is trying to bring awareness to this contract issue through picketing. Picketing in the morning is just one thing the teacher union at CHS is doing. The union additionally meets with the district regularly to come up with agreements. One teacher who was out picketing was history teacher Chloe Root.
“We’re really hoping that the district and the teachers’ union are going to come to an agreement. We’re hoping that we won’t have to do anything big,” Root said. “At this point, the main thing is just spreading awareness about it.”
Besides spreading awareness, CHS teachers are limiting the amount of unpaid time and energy they put into their school because of the lack of pay as a way to leverage the limited power they have. Teachers are canceling clubs as well as other extracurriculars they sponsor without pay until they come up with an agreed-upon contract.
“I feel like that work is voluntary, and I want to be doing it,” Root said. ”I can imagine it being hard; that’s the part [voluntary work] that has to be cut off.”
While the teachers are lacking a contract, they keep showing up to teach the next generation even though it can be hard and take a hit to their self-worth.
“Working without a contract does have a layer of disrespect and expectancy that we teachers will just keep working no matter what,” Parker said. “Every time we talk about this, I’m like, ‘The point of being here is to teach, not to make money.’”
Many teachers hope that further action doesn’t have to take place, and they can continue showing up for their people, the future generation they place their knowledge upon every single day.
