Strike will go on after talks fizzle
Reynoldsburg teachers will return to the picket line today after union and school-board officials failed to make any progress during four hours of negotiations with a federal mediator last night.
“We were as unsurprised as we were disappointed that the (school board) did not come to (yesterday’s) meeting with an honest attempt to make any progress and end this strike,”
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Reynoldsburg Education Association Co-President Kim Cooper said.
The proposal the board presented to the teachers union last night was unchanged from the previous proposal that teachers overwhelmingly rejected weeks ago.
Cooper said the union’s bargaining team was 10 minutes into drafting a counterproposal last night when the board’s negotiating team left without warning.
Superintendent Tina Thomas-Manning said both sides remain apart on numerous issues, and she reiterated that the board’s final offer is fair and reflects the economic realities of the school district.
She said more than 79 percent of the teachers would receive a guaranteed raise of 13 percent or more over three years. In addition, teachers would be eligible for performance bonuses based on their evaluations.
Teachers have said it’s not about the money.
The teachers strike enters Day 7 today, and students will return to classes with substitute teachers and online lessons. No further mediation sessions have been scheduled.
Union leaders have said they are fighting for working conditions. They are determined to see a change in their contract given that 1 in 5 teachers left the district last year.
Among their concerns is class size, which remained the same under the board’s last offer.
“Until the board appreciates why the students, the parents and the community are standing with us for the schools they deserve, unfortunately, I don’t see this strike ending in the near future,” Cooper said.
District officials have raised concerns about the financial impact of class-size limits.
The union’s last proposal called for 25 students in one class at the elementary level; 30 for grades 5 to 12. If those caps were in place now, the district would have to add 16 new positions, officials said.
John Arnold, spokesman for the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, said the service will remain in contact with the negotiating teams. Both sides are free to meet without a mediator if they wish, he said.
Federal mediators plan to stay in contact with both sides in the dispute, who are free to meet without a mediator if they choose to.