Strike or not, on schools will open Aug. 15

School district making contingency plans with temporary staffing firm.

Dayton Public Schools will be open for the Aug. 15 start of school, regardless of whether teachers are on strike, Superintendent Rhonda Corr said.

DPS is working with a company called Alternative Workforce, Inc., a subsidiary of the strike-staffing company Huffmaster, which has provided teach

ers to other school districts that have had strikes. Alternative Workforce Inc. is running advertise

ments in this week’s Dayton Daily News, “accepting applications for long and short term substitute teacher positions that may become available due to a possible labor dispute at a school district in Montgomery County.”

“Our No. 1 priority is to avert a strike,” Corr said. “We love our teachers (and) want to go to the bargaining table on Aug. 3. I wish we could go today or yesterday or a month ago to finish this deal. I don’t

think we’re that far away, and

I think if we come together, we will strike a deal.

“But when you’re in these situations, just like any other district across the United States, you have to be ready, because our job is to provide education for children,” Corr continued. “So schools will be open. There will be a strike planin place. I don’t want to use it.”

David Romick, president of the Dayton Education Asso- ciation teachers union, confirmed he had seen the ads. He said the union has a mem- bers meeting Aug. 1, and if teachers agree on that day, they will give DPS the 10-day notice that is legally required before a strike.

“While the DEA was hope- ful an agreement would be reached during the summer, that has yet to occur,” Romick said Wednesday. “On Aug. 1, the DEA membership will take an actual strike vote, setting into motion the ability to strike should mediation on Aug 3, 7, and/or 9 not produce a tentative agreement.”

The teachers are currently scheduled for “professional development” training days on Aug. 10-11 and a required work day Aug. 14, the day before school begins.

The teachers’ existing con- tract expired June 30. The district and its teachers union have been negotiating on and off since January, but have not reached a deal. According to

the union, key issues have been pay (after step raises were frozen for four years), support staffing such as guid- ance counselors and librari

ans, the move to five-day per week preschool, and more.

Ohio Department of Education spokeswoman Brit- tany Halpin said there’s no state law governing how school districts must oper- ate in a strike.

“How districts handle their schedule during a strike is the choice of that district,” Halpin said.

Corr emphasized that the teachers who would be brought in if a strike occurs are certified teachers who had been through back- ground checks. She said it was too early to estimate how many would be ready in Dayton’s 28 schools Aug. 15 if they were needed. DPS school bus drivers are also in the midst of sep- arate, ongoing negotiations toward a new contract. Jim Tackett, the field representative for the drivers’ union, said bargaining is scheduled again Wednesday.

It is unlikely that a drivers strike would occur by Aug. 15. Legally, talks would have to reach impasse, the sides would have to meet with a federal mediator, as the teach

ers have, then they would have to give the 10-day notice, all in the next three weeks.

Tackett said DPS bus drivers could not strike while negotiations are ongoing, but said they are “100 percent in support of the teachers” and would walk picket lines during their off hours if the teachers decide to go on strike.

Corr repeatedly emphasized her respect for Dayton’s teachers and said she would put her heart and soul into reaching a “fair and equitable” deal with the union.

“Our hearts are all in,” she said. “We are committed to making this work. And I need the same from DEA.” Corr said it’s hard to pre

dict what Aug. 15 and beyond would look like if those teachers are not there.

“I went through a strike as a child, and my mother sent me every single day, so I know what that was like,” Corr said. “You get a certain number of children the first day, and then more and more as days go on or weeks go on, or God forbid, months go on. More and more kids will come to school, especially seniors (staying on track to graduate), and kids who want to play football and soccer and things like that (and need to be eligible).”