Brookline teachers could disobey court order and walk off the job tomorrow

Update: Brookline public schools are closed on Monday.

After last-minute contract talks failed around 3:50 this morning, the Brookline Educations Union says it's ready to have members form picket lines tomorrow morning, despite a judge's injunction Friday ordering them to stay on the job.

Brookline educators can no longer tolerate the School Committee’s dismissive attitude toward educators or its willingness to dismantle the quality of our schools.

At issue, the union says: Guaranteed daily duty free prep time; guaranteed time for colleagues to collaborate weekly; substantive action on attracting and retaining educators of color.

Still, the union says it's ready to go back to the bargaining table, despite the lack of progress over the 8 1/2-hour session that ended early this morning, if, it say, the town begins to negotiate seriously:

We remain open to negotiating with the School Committee throughout Sunday and beyond, to resolve a fair contract that preserves the working and learning conditions that our students and educators deserve.

Acting on a request from the Commonwealth Employment Relations Board, Norfolk Superior Court Judge Sharon Donatelle on Friday issued a preliminary injunction that prohibits teachers not just from striking but from even talking about striking.

Serious and irreparable harm will result to the Town, the students and their caretakers, and public welfare if the conduct of defendants is not enjoined.

State law prohibits strikes by public-school teachers.

School Committee Chair David Pearlman says school negotiators remain willing to sit down with their union counterparts again to get a deal done.

In the meantime, though, he says parents and caretakers of the roughly 7,000 children in the Brookline system should watch for further announcements today.