Even under immense pressure from teacher union, the Louisiana Federation of Teachers (LFT) and the Louisiana Federation of Educators (LFE), the Monroe School Board voted down the school system’s collective bargaining agreement.

The decision was made after Mitzi Murray, the future Associated Professional Educators of Louisiana (A+PEL) President, testified to the school board against collective bargaining. According to sources, the room was filled with union members of the LFT and LFE.

Teachers with LFT came out the school board meeting in blue t-shirts to show their support for collective bargaining, though it would have forced their membership to LFT. And though faced with a roaring crowd of union members, school board members Victoria “Vickie” Krutzer, Mickey Traweek, Glynn Ludley and Victoria “Vickie” Dayton voted down the school system’s collective bargaining agreement.

Ludley, the swing vote on the issue, will now likely be a target for Louisiana teacher unions when it comes to re-elect him as a school board member.

Now, the next school system to face renewal of their collective bargaining agreement is St. Bernard Parish. That school board will likely vote soon to either rid the system of the agreement, which expires in June of 2015, or keep the agreement in place.