The Teachers created this CHOAS, that is the point of a UNION = 100% MASS REVOLT! They easily could have continued to stay on the job ("the kids are worth it" mantra), and collected their VERY lucrative pay & benefits, aka $79K/year + an extra 10% free money towards awesome pensions, not including a full-boat of insurance benefits. Teachers pay needs to/must adjust according to CURRENT times, aka Off-shoring & the decimation of the middle-class, including most other Union kind. Why do people think employers off-shored manufacturing, tele-marketing, etc. = UNION inflexability! My child is 100% effected by this situation, but I stand for what is objectively right, not putting my SELF-interest first. It takes time for Admin to solve the CHAOS created by the Teachers UNION. Example: Teachers at Saint Ignatius, a MUCH better school in ALL ways, has NO UNIONS, TOP-notch Teachers, and the Teachers make MUCH LESS PAY! Humm ...

Please note that the End the Strike Now page was created only yesterday...and already has 265 'likes', whereas the letters to teachers website was created in mid-February, I believe. Just didn't want people to be confused about the level of support for either.

Ending the strike would give these dedicated teachers a disadvantage . If there is no money then it's time for the superintendent and board members to take a pay cut so it could help the financial situation. That will never happen. Soooo the teachers take the consequences. The kids will survive this strike. They will also learn how to fight for their rights. Part of our countries heritage are built on this. I am definitely for the teachers.

Strange how things have changed so quickly toward teachers in the past few years. Yes, there are a lot of folks out there hurt by the economy. And GOOD Teachers are the ones to help bring education to those to be more fortunate. Anyone would be a little more than peaved after going into the profession with a model to start out at low pay with the promise of higher wages later and beefits for staying in the profession and growing as an educator. 20 years ago, people laughed at teacher salaries. These people work a whole lot more hours than they are given credit. It would be like saying a College student only has 12 hours of school. Yet, there is usually 2 hours for 1 hour in class. Same with Teachers. They may only be in class 7.5 hours/week and be in class 184 days. GOOD teachers come home to grade papers, do school blogs, attend meetings, call parents, etc. This extra time adds up to a couple of hours or more a day or an extra 49 long days of work or 233 days. So, take a 250 day year for non-Teachers and subtract out the "Holidays" and Teachers get about 1 week comparable vacation where many jobs of their caliber offer 2, 3, 4, and even 5 weeks after so many years.

Son of a striker/Husband of a striker ........your family lost the right to call themselves Strongsville teachers once they joined that strike .....go write some chants

If you are siding with the teachers you need to wake up!! I am a teacher, not in the Strongsville district, and I am disgusted by the union and the reported behavior of some members who have been "bullying" the substitute teachers. Those teachers are making other teachers look bad. Times are tough right now and "JOe the taxpayer" has it exactly correct. Its not a hard job especially if you are good at it! You work 7.5 hours a day and get 3 months vacation. My husband works 11 months out of the year, 11 hours a day, and doesn't get paid extra when he has to go in on the weekends. Oh and he makes just as much as a teacher making $62,000 when you annualize their salary.

Is that all you got? So, Teachers had it great a few years ago until the Stock market crashed and property values took a dive. They could retire at 60 with 77% of their last 3 years average salary, step increases every year, excellent health care paid. And now they get pushed back 5 years to 65, a 1% pay reduction every year for 4 years until it reaches 4% to fund waiting longer to retire, pay freeze with no end in sight, health care that is now costing them more and more every year. Basically, teachers are taking home a lot less pay while the responsibilities increase.
All of this said, the money to pay should not come from taxpayers. GOOD Teachers should be paid as well as any other job where performance is rewarded. The opportunity for this change is underway now with how teachers are rated. Pay the good ones better and get rid of the bad ones. For now, a Strike is the only way to cause action for Teachers to be heard. And now they're mad as anyone would be in their shoes. I've got a chant for you, "TREAT THEM FAIR". They are not stupid people and the Strongsville School Circus today gives them even more leverage. They will all end up getting better pay and it should only those who deserve it. The board will be forced to negotiate as time goes on here and parents see the real value in teachers.

Son of A......what exactly do you think has been going on with everyone else in the rest of the nation, even other government jobs? Please explain to me why teachers are so much more special than the rest of us that they should be exempt? Additionally, as it relates to all the healthcare changes specifically (if not other changes), the teachers union was a big supporter of Obama. They voted for all of this "change." So, why shouldn't they get their change? They wanted change, they got it!

Tracy,

The board/should propose this avenue. But, you are right on with the SEA contract. It treats all as if they all great. That would be like all students getting an A in class. If they do, then the matrerial needs to be more challenging. So, the Teachers have to understand there is a pot of money only so big. They need to divy it up among based on their performance. The new programs going into place this year and next year could be used to basically be like a grading scale. Set a base level pay. And then all those with A's divy up the top 60%, B's the next 30%, C's the next 10%, and the D's need some help. And the F's, well there's a cost savings or chance for a new hire.

Another husband of a teacher here. Yes, most unions are anachronism in this age and yes, our whole education system is screwed up. But, not every Strongsville teacher fits the sterotype being peddled on The Patch. My wife recently received her Masters in Special Ed from CSU and landed her first teaching job with Strongsville City Schools. She loves your sons and daughters. She makes sure that your daughters gastro tube is working right. She helps toilet your son and cleans everything up when it doesn't go quite right. She sings and dances with you daughter for a few seconds of a smile. She works 60 to
80 hours a week and spends her lunch break helping to feed your child. For all that, she brings home $600 dollars a week and she is told to not expect a raise for at least five years. I don't understand why people think that she should be fired.

Sadly I must inform the teachers of Peal.....KFC workers have decided to go on strike today. No I will not make anymore biscuits!! There will be no more Extra Crispy! No more popcorn Chicken! Until I get a bonus and sick days and summers off and personal days and oh yeah some freakin chicken for me!!! I prefer baked unlike that large orange abominable snowman that shook me down this morning. I am sorry folk we are out of toilet paper as well. The Sh*&er is full!

Parent, I don't anybody thinks your wife should be fire. Actually, I for one thank her and commend her, provided she maintains her professionalism throughout this craziness. People speak in generalities, on both sides, for simplicity instead of typing 2 sentences to explain every time. We all know there are many teachers just as you describe, that are simply caught in the dragnet. If anything, they should rally together and do anything they can to talk sense into the others, most importantly about their tactics and behavior but also about coming to a reasonable agreement.

For example, the SEA Facebook website STILL has a picture of an African American sub applicant that had a knit hat on that has the Ohio State logo on it, a buckey leaf, and claiming that it is instead a marijuana leaf. Even after I posted a link here of a CBS article where Memphis police also made this mistake, they STILL are making these claims of this man, on their open and public website. At BEST this could be perceived as cyberbullying of this man. At worst, I can think of a couple of other possible claims to make. Who in their right mind would want to be aasociated with that in any way?

They are not the scum of the community. You wouldn't have gotten anywhere in life without your teachers.

I will proudly stand with my teachers tomorrow

The teachers are right to walk out and many students support them in this and see their reason for it even if you do not. They are showing us that we must stand up for what we believe in and that we shouldn't let people walk all over us.

Yes as a matter of fact I do. I think they deserve to be paid more since they have the MOST important jobs in any country

Omg! The MOST important jobs? That's it! Whatever respect I had left is gone. What a pompous, conceited, self-righteous thing to say! Along with your fire and police that was pointed out above, how about your military honey! You have no idea what you speak of. Do you remember 9/11? Tell me, how instrumental were your teachers to that? How about those attorneys that defend people who are wrongly accused? There's a guy that has been in jail now for 10 years for a murder he didn't commit. A lawyer has been fighting day and night to get him out because there is ZERO evidence against him except the testimony of a "friend," who now admits he was lying. Oh, did I mention this guy went to jail when he was only 19 and is sentenced to 40 years?! He came from a nice white suburb like Strongsville too. What's your teacher mom going to do for him, huh? Please tell me! His freedom is taken away, not some stupid benefits. You want to picket for something? Why don't you all go to that state's capitol and picket for his freedom! Since he was only 19 at the time, I wonder hpw many of his teachers that "love" him have been out there picketing for his freedom on their free time?! HIS ATTORNEY IS WORKING FOR FREE FOR HIM, TIRELESSLY, BECAUSE SHE BELIEVES IN HIM! You all would charge to picket for his cause!

Strongsville schools treasurer recommends 3.5 mill levy for November ballot

http://www.cleveland.com/strongsville/index.ssf/2013/03/strongsville_schools_treasurer.html#incart_river_d

I know exactly what I speak of and I know other people have important jobs but teachers have the most important whether you choose to believe it or not.

And maybe you should go get a better lawyer because yours obviously isn't very good.

Not me dear. Looks like your awesome teachers have failed you at reading comprehension. When you or a loved one are sick or dying, please call your teachers to save your lives instead of the medical professionals. I'm sure you'll have great success. And teachers invented all of those wonderful medications too.

I know, I know, you believe that all of this was made possible because of teachers. If that is the case, then explain the inner city schools and all the horrible stories we hear there. Or why everyone isn't a huge success? Some people are successful in spite of their teachers and educational system. Others are failures even when afforded the best of everything. Genetics, intellect, aptitude, personality, drive, upbringing, etc. all play a role. Teaching is but one factor. Are teachers important? Yes. But so are many other people on this earth and teachers are no more important or even as important than many others. Gain some perspective. They serve a supportive role. And, the arrogance many of them have acquired is really turning many in society off of them as a whole.

By the way, when I was in college it was a running joke amongst my friends in a friendly manner, some of who were studying education, that the reason they were doing so is that they'd never be able to pass the "real" math courses of the other majors the rest of us were studying, or that they were simply there to get their M.R.S. Hhhhmmm.

(and it was the education majors that joked about it. Hhmmmm. Like someone said before, I guess that goes to that whole saying "if you can't do, then teach.")

to svilleres. It was all made possible by teachers. Who do you think taught all those doctors what they know and who taught them how to save people. And you have more arrogance than any of my teachers or I do.

They're not about gaining more money its about not losing what they have. Maybe you should go read the contract. And don't call my mother greedy!

If I had it in my power I would reward the teachers that go the extra mile, that make a difference, that show they care in numerous ways. I can think of several. But with a teachers union, I have to also reward the surly education “professionals” that barely tolerate parents or are downright disrespectful, have a one size fits all mentality, and do what they can to demoralize me and my kid. That's not right. I would like to see a few go before the BOE makes any concessions.

those of you who support the teachers
will you support the 3,5 mil levy in november

http://www.cleveland.com/strongsville/index.ssf/2013/03/strongsville_schools_treasurer.html#incart_river_d

Proud Daughter, The reality is that the contract the teachers were given during the last round of negoitation is unsustainable. Do you understand that? The previous Board should have never signed that contract with the teachers at that time.

I have news for you, young lady, I have read both contracts. Very thoroughly. The teachers' request are unreasonable and this community can no longer afford them. If your mother is unhappy and a good teacher, let her go somewhere else to find a better paying job. I wish her luck!

This Board of Education is trying to undo the mistakes that were made previously. The item you failed to mention was that the teachers are now demanding back the very concessions (step increases based on tenure) that they have used to demonstrate how unselfish they are. Ridiculous. Everyone, please go read both contracts. It is very eye opening. No accountable, less work, more time off, etc.......

accountability....sorry

You might also be surprised at what they are already getting paid for!

Kim L
"LET THE SCHOOLS CRUMBLE
MY TAX DOLLARS SAVED WILL GO TO PRIVATE EDUCATION"

I guess this is the ruling opinion here on the Patch.
Some of the Strongsville community at their finest.

Son of a teacher please see the website Buckeye Institute and type in your relatives names and make sure to look at the Pension part. For you to even compare your relatives pension take home to Social Security is ludicrous! Social Security does not even come close!!!!! Look at the stats right there in black and white a fraction of what your relatives will get!!!!! Oh and matching contributions into a 401k a joke with the market the way it is... my husband and I will have to work until the day we die at the rate our 401k are growing. Just a little reality check for you!

Market up doesn't make up for the losses for many over the years. Meanwhile these teachers had no loss to their pensions. And in this particular school district, the teachers don't contribute to their pensions, the taxpayers foot the bill. I did read the highlights of the BOE's offer.....what many in this society would do for such an offer! And yes my money is at the wrong pace - too slow of growth! Just kidding I know you mean place. Did the Buckeye Institute's message come across as important at all to you? Of course not it is affecting you/your family positively so who cares right?