Longtime Waterford teacher urges board to pursue multi‑year contracts to retain staff

At the public-comment portion of the Waterford School District board meeting, teacher Mary Crayde, who identified herself as a 40‑year classroom teacher, urged trustees to secure multi‑year contracts for staff to improve retention and reduce repeated negotiations.

Crayde said the district’s experienced staff are in high demand and warned that lengthy bargaining cycles and short-term contracts risk losing trained teachers to other districts. She cited recent conference discussions that emphasized teacher recruitment pressure and said, "We can't afford to lose any more of our staff... I’m begging you to find a way that we can do multi year contracts and value the people that we have." She asked trustees to consider multi‑year approaches during upcoming negotiations to avoid repeating lengthy bargaining and to show commitment to personnel stability.

Board members thanked her for speaking and several trustees noted the district’s strategic plan and staffing priorities are central to upcoming discussions. The board did not take formal action on the request during the meeting; Crayde’s remarks were recorded as public comment and will inform the board’s bargaining and strategic conversations moving forward.

What was said in public comment "We have the best trained staff... Please don't let any state test court tell you these people aren't working hard," Crayde said, praising the teachers whose classroom demonstrations had appeared earlier in the meeting.

Next steps Board members acknowledged the concern and will continue district bargaining preparations; no vote or formal direction was recorded at this meeting.