WEST GREENWICH — The Exeter-West Greenwich Education Association, whose members have been working without a contract for six months, recently took out an advertisement in The Providence Journal proclaiming that they are “highly qualified” and “dedicated, committed teachers” working in “high performing schools.”

The ad was published a week ago in the Journal’s West Bay edition, a few weeks after the teachers adopted “work to rule” — performing only those duties required by their previous contract— and in advance of the next round of mediated contract negotiations, set for Friday evening in the Cranston offices of the union’s parent, National Education Association Rhode Island.

In a Feb. 25 memo to Supt. Thomas Geismar and the School Committee concerning the work-to-rule stance, the union’s negotiating committee outlined the duties the teachers are willing to perform absent a new contract and the tasks — 43 in all — that they will decline to do.

The memo states that teachers will “continue on a daily basis to provide high-quality, standards-based lessons for all of our students” and may, “at their discretion,” offer after-school help for students “for 45 minutes, one day per week.”

But it said the members will no longer volunteer for unpaid tasks, such as chaperoning dances or hosting fund-raisers to pay for field trips and supplies, past the regular school day.

Yesterday, union president Maureen Pontarelli said the 43 items listed in the memo “are ancillary activities at best” that can be supervised by an administrator.

“As time continues without a contract the teachers felt compelled to make a strong statement. There really is no other vehicle to do that. We stood on the side of the road and held our signs … we went one night to the School Committee meeting,” Pontarelli, a sixth-grade teacher at the Metcalf School, said.

“It was not made in a cavalier attitude. We feel comfortable that the important mission that we do every day is still being done … to the best of our abilities.”

The paid advertisement in the Journal restates in part the position expressed in the union’s memo. The ad also lists the reasons union thinks negotiations have gone on too long and that it would agree to participate in binding arbitration, something it says was recommended by the state-appointed mediator. The ad urges readers to call the School Committee in support of its teachers.

On Feb. 26, Geismar and members of the School Committee negotiation team crafted a response to the Feb. 25 memo, stating that it is “extremely disappointed that the [union] has decided to take such measures,” and that the “current tactic is only hurtful to our students.”

It asserts that the teachers are paid well — an average of $62,202 a year for those without advance degrees, with about 95 teachers paid in excess of $70,000 because of stipends for advanced degrees. The memo also mentions that the teachers’ health care family plan costs the district $14,000, with teachers paying no more than $700 toward the premium. While the School Department’s response memo characterizes class size as excellent, class size is among the main sticking points, alongside salaries and benefits, in the 29 negotiation sessions — 17 of them involving the mediator — that have been held over the last several months.

Geismar said yesterday that the teachers are doing their jobs during the day, that teachers who are coaches and advisers are still doing what they have been doing. But the work-to-rule stance is being felt, he said.

“Every year there is a fashion show that the junior high school puts on. That’s a casualty,” Geismar said. “We intend to do everything … to keep programs going with parental support.

“I am very anxious to have this settled and behind us,” he said. “I think negotiations are a drain on everybody’s morale. I still believe we are making progress. I believe we will get it done.”

John Leidecker, of NEARI, said the teachers are frustrated that the negotiation process is taking so long but that they are interested in “making sure the student is really provided with the right type of environment” despite the bleak fiscal climate in which school districts find themselves.

Vincent Ragosta, the lawyer for the School Committee, characterized the union’s ad in the Journal as conveying “misinformation and negative propaganda” that he said “does not enhance the mediation process.”

“The School Committee will continue to follow the rules and the law,” Ragosta said. “We will do our talking at the mediation table. I would hope the teachers would reconsider the whole notion of work to rule because it does nothing to force the good labor relations with the School Committee, nor does it force the good community relations with the students and the parents of district.”

lsparks@projo.com