Colleagues, This brief interruption of your summer recess is to update you about our ongoing efforts to secure a fair successor contract for teachers and substitute teachers in our District. After a lengthy period of unproductive bargaining, we declared an impasse in negotiations today and requested the involvement of the New York State Public Employment Board (PERB). The teachers’ contract expired on June 30, 2022. Substitute teachers in the Rochester City School District have been without a contract for more than two years. The breakdown in negotiations comes at a time of spiking inflation and an unprecedented nationwide teacher shortage. Just last week, the Rochester City School District reported that they still have more than 385 unfilled teacher vacancies for the coming school year. Nearly 190 RCSD teachers resigned during the 2021-2022 school year - and that does not include the teachers who have decided to retire. In our negotiations, we have proposed changes that would...