Superintendent Doing Something About Illegal Contract Provision

Like dozens of districts in the state of Michigan, Northport Public Schools has language in its teacher contract that violates the state’s right-to-work law by stating that teachers must financially support the union as a condition of employment.

But the superintendent’s response when informed of that was rare.

Northport Superintendent Chris Parker acknowledged the language in the contract was “unenforceable” and is doing something about it.

“We do not withhold payroll for the purpose of joining the association or paying a service fee," Parker said. "We also do not take any type of position on whether or not an individual joins the association."

He took it a step further.

“There is a severability clause in Article XV (C) and we will be asking the association to send out a letter to staff explaining that the language in Article VII is unenforceable. If they are not willing to send this letter, I will send one out that reports this information. I was not here when that contract was negotiated and I am sorry that I missed this when I took over at Northport,” Parker said.

The Mackinac Center has contacted many districts identified in this survey for having language contrary to the state's right-to-work law. Several have indicated that they will be removing illegal language.