Still without a contract, the Middletown teachers' union last Friday called off the week old strike that led to the imprisonment of 230 of its members 1,000 (See WIT for Dec. 4, 2001). Although all strikers have been released from jail, and teacher and guidance counselor attendance has returned to normal rates, the animosity between the union members and the board of education that many feel was the underlying reason for the strike, has only increased. A mediator has been appointed by the courts to assist in these difficult negotiations that have caused at least one teacher to resign, and have intensified divisions in this community that has now experienced two unsuccessful educator strikes in the past three years.
See "Middletown and Its Schools on Edge After Bitter Strike", ROBERT HANLEY, The New York Times, December 10, 2001