By Elizabeth Lowe
Staff writer

Detroit – Goodrich school officials will face off with union representatives Aug. 15 in a Michigan Employment Relations Commission hearing in Detroit.
At issue: Whether a May 19 meeting between Goodrich schools superintendent Kim Hart and approximately 140 students constitutes an unfair labor practice.
The meeting was called at students? request over concern for the future of the schools? fine arts program after 39 district teachers were laid off.
Some present at the meeting allege Hart told students to ask teachers about the music program’s future, says Dianne Bregenzer, Michigan Education Association spokesperson, who felt the discussion violated a code of ethics.
Bregenzer announced the Goodrich Education Association’s intent to pursue filing an unfair labor practice complaint at the Goodrich Board of Education’s May 23 meeting.
‘I did not tell students to talk to teachers with the exception of a few specific questions about how the band instructor would run her class,? said Hart, who maintains she directed students to follow up with teachers on questions regarding specific classroom procedures.
All 39 teachers previously laid off have been called back to work, says Hart.