WEST WARWICK — The teachers union yesterday sent a letter to the School Committee expressing its disappointment with the board’s decision to opt out of the final year of the current contract and reasserting that teachers would perform only the duties explicitly required by the current contract.

Last month, the School Committee unanimously voted to invoke a clause in the contract that allowed either party to eliminate its fourth year, ending in 2010, so long as the decision was made before Sept. 1 of this year. That contract, which now has two years remaining, provides annual raises of 3.9 percent.

“The teachers that serve the West Warwick Public Schools felt that their trust has been broken and that their professionalism is not recognized,” Donald E. Vanasse, president of the West Warwick Teachers Alliance, said in the letter to board Chairman Daniel T. Burns Jr. “Your committee’s recent actions have left all teachers feeling that they have been devalued in the eyes of their own employer.”

Vanasse declined yesterday to elaborate on the reasoning behind the work-to-rule position, or what it means in practical terms.

“It will become evident” what the union membership’s responsibilities and response to school officials concerns are at a later date, Vanasse said.

Burns said he expects the topic to come up at tonight’s School Committee meeting, though it is not on the agenda. The meeting begins at 6:30 in the library of Deering Middle School.

The school district entered the current fiscal year with a budget $1.7 million out of balance, and was forced to cut after-school programs and middle school athletics from the budget, and lay off a number of teacher assistants. The district couldn’t justify keeping the fourth-year 3.9 percent raise in place when it couldn’t predict the fiscal climate, Burns said.

“It does not eliminate the possibility that if things change or get brighter, the option could be reinstated,” Burns said yesterday. “However, at this time it would be irresponsible of the School Committee to guarantee any kind of increase in pay or benefits in the fourth year.”

A few days after the committee’s vote on the contract, the union announced its decision to work to rule. In his letter, Vanasse said: “It is unfortunate that these events have unfolded in this matter, but be assured that we, as an organization, will continue to value the process of good-faith negotiations.

“In that vein, we stand prepared to rebuild the relationship that previously existed between the West Warwick Teachers Alliance and the West Warwick School Committee once your body takes steps to reconcile the manner in which it has recently begun to conduct labor/management relations.”

However, Burns said it is the union’s current posture that will make it difficult for the next contract negotiation session in a few years.

“The work-to-rule environment that the union leadership has instructed classroom teachers to practice is not sitting well with this School Committee,” Burns said. “And it is the wrong move if the teachers are looking for a better contract in the future.”

Schools Supt. Kenneth M. Sheehan said he’s baffled by the union’s actions. Sheehan, who once headed the teachers union in Seekonk, said he’s seen unions employ the “work to rule” strategy when teachers were working without a contract, but never when educators were in the midst of a “lucrative” agreement.

Some of the “unwritten rules” of the strategy, Sheehan said, include refusal to volunteer for nonpaid clubs or activities, participate in parent-teacher organization meetings, or sit on unpaid committees for the district. (The school open houses, which began in the district last week, are a part of the teachers contract, Sheehan said.) Those moves, he said, undoubtedly hurt the quality of education in town and, ultimately, shortchange students.

“I have difficulty in accepting [using] children or students as pawns when the fight is with the School Committee,” Sheehan said. “It’s always a problem when you put kids in the middle.”

The move has also put additional strain on volunteers such as Paula Wolf, who is a member of the West Warwick Band Parents Association. Wolf enjoyed working with the high school band so much that after her children graduated from the school system she stayed on to work with the band. In the two weeks since school began, Wolf said she’s noticed a change.

“It’s already a lot more work,” she said, mentioning that the onus for approval of fundraising activities has fallen to the parents. It was a task normally performed by teachers, she said. Wolf also said that while the band still has a regular schedule, a number of additional trips were not included on the band calendar for this year.

The result, she said, has left some students uncertain about the direction of the band and disappointed at the elimination of some of the engagements.

“I think that with so many sad children, something somewhere needs to change, but what it is, I don’t know,” she said. “What the kids really want is to do something with their music, and right now they can’t do what they want. It’s hard for them. They don’t understand the whole process. They just want their activities and I can’t give them that.”

tbuford@projo.com