CLINTONDALE (Oct. 27, 2025) — The following statement can be attributed to Mike Ward, a teacher at Clintondale High School and president of the Clintondale Education Association:

“The instability in Clintondale Community Schools has dragged on far too long and has harmed relationships among colleagues, neighbors and friends. We must come together as a community — regardless of our individual differences — and support our schools, students and educators.

“Clintondale students need and deserve great teachers, so they can get the education and skills they need to succeed as adults. However, Clintondale teachers have been working without a contract for well over a year now. In roughly that same span, we’ve lost about 80% of our teachers to other school districts that pay their educators better and treat them as professionals. For the sake of our kids and our community, we cannot allow this to continue.

“We must attract and retain great teachers to our local schools. To do that, we must finally settle a contract that increases teacher pay, improves educators’ working conditions, and allows for independent arbitration in the event of contract disputes between staff and administrators.

“Offering our children’s teachers a fair contract will help rebuild trust, respect and collaboration in our schools, as well as bring some much-needed stability to the Clintondale community. Let’s lower the room temperature and demonstrate to our kids that school administrators, board members and school staff can work side by side as adults for the betterment of Clintondale students. Together, we can light a path toward a brighter future for our families and our community.”