UNION TO ASK FOR PROBE OF GODDARD
PLAINFIELD -- Financially ailing Goddard College may face more troubles from the union that once represented teachers and staff at the progressive Vermont's school.
Representatives of the Vermont Federation of Teachers said former Goddard faculty planned to hold a news conference Wednesday and will call for an investigation of the school's accreditation.
Beverly Ryan, executive director of the Federation, also said unfair labor practice charges have been filed against the college.
Ms. Ryan said the teachers are angry because several of them held multiyear contracts and Goddard should have negotiated settlements with them when they were laid off in 1981.
About 40 teachers and 40 other staff members were dropped last year when Goddard was in midst of a financial crisis.
The school has come close to bankruptcy several times in the past two years. Administrators have reduced faculty and curriculum and sold parts of the campus in an effort to keep the school's head above water.
Two weeks ago, serious cash flow problems delayed distribution of paychecks until the Chittenden Trust Co., Goddard's major creditor, allowed the school to release about $57,000 from in escrow account.
