The Tiverton School Committee and the union representing town teachers appear headed for a confrontation tomorrow, when the schools are scheduled to open, after contract talks broke down yesterday and the union notified the superintendent of schools that teachers will not report for work.

“A job action will start Tuesday morning,” said Patrick Crowley, of the National Education Association Rhode Island.

The School Committee issued a news release in which it insisted the schools would open on time. The committee added what seemed to be a strange comment. The panel, referring to itself in the third person, said, “However, they caution parents to have a plan in place in case the teachers decide to illegally strike, especially in light of last Wednesday’s attempted abduction of a middle school student from a bus stop.”

Amy Mullen, local president of NEARI, said that Schools Supt. William Rearik last week directed that students take home letters to parents describing how a man 50 to 60 years old tried to get a student to enter his car.

“I’m not sure what that has to do with the negotiations,” Mullen said. “There are a lot of things about this School Committee that I don’t get. They are playing with parents’ emotions.”

A Tiverton police dispatcher declined to confirm the incident, and said there was no one at headquarters yesterday authorized to discuss it.

The School Committee’s release said that the panel had authorized its lawyer, Stephen Robinson, “to take all legal action necessary to stop an illegal strike should it be called, as well as to stop any other job action, such as a work stoppage.”

The committee said that the union had “failed to provide a salary and health care proposal” at yesterday’s curtailed talks.

The union last week filed an unfair-labor-practices charge against the School Committee.

Meanwhile, negotiations in other school districts continued over the holiday weekend.

Larry Purtill, president of NEARI, said that negotiators will meet in East Greenwich this afternoon under the auspices of a mediator.

In the Exeter-West Greenwich regional district, Purtill said, a mediator presided over talks on Saturday. He said further talks will be held Wednesday. “Some progress was made,” he said. “They still have to deal with the big-money issues.”

Students have already reported for school in the district.

In Burrillville, Purtill said, talks in the presence of a mediator were scheduled for about 9:30 a.m. today.

In the Foster-Glocester Regional School District, Kelly Hunter, head of the School Committee’s negotiating panel, said yesterday that the two sides will meet today at 2 p.m. at the Department of Labor and Training.

Students and teachers have already returned to classrooms, she said, adding that she could make no further comment due to an agreement of confidentiality between the committee and the union.

In Providence, Steve Smith, president of the Providence Teachers Union, said negotiations would resume today. He said the union members will gather tomorrow at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet, Cranston, for a briefing on the progress of the talks.

Purtill said the “crisis” in Tiverton was caused by the School Committee.

“There was only one School Committee person and the superintendent there,” he said. “They said they did not have the power to reach any type of agreement, so negotiations quickly broke down. It’s rather amazing to me that with school opening in two days they send people to the table who can’t reach an agreement.”

Purtill said that the labor department also must share the blame.

“The department was supposed to assign a mediator to move these talks along and they have not done so,” he said. “We are wondering why they are dragging their feet. Last week the governor was complaining about contract talks and it’s his Department of Labor that’s part of the problem in Tiverton.”

Purtill said it would take “something drastic” between now and tomorrow to keep the union from “taking some action.”

tmorgan@projo.com