Strongsville Teachers Strike Starts Week 8 with Flurry of Accusations

The Strongsville teachers' strike started its eighth week Monday with the two sides hurling allegations at each other and a settlement seemingly far away.

Union Makes New Offer

The Strongsville Education Association took a one-time offer to the Board of Education during a negotiating session on Sunday, April 21 that it says should have ended the strike.
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Teachers Union Blasts School Board for Not Accepting One-Time Offer 
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The offer included only a minor economic adjustment, but introduced a new idea -- that teachers would give all students an extra half-hour of instruction every day.

The SEA put a $2 million price tag on the extra work.

"Why would a school board reject the opportunity to add an additional half hour of learning to every child's school day?" SEA President Tracy Linscott said. 

Linscott said the Board of Education rejected the contract offer without explanation.

Board Prepared to End School Year without Settlement 

The board might not have given the SEA a reason for rejecting the offer Sunday night, but it offered an explanation in a news release issued afterward.
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Board President David Frazee said the SEA "continues to insist on unreasonable economic and contract language terms” and "won't take meaningful steps to end their strike."

Frazee also noted there with only 32 days left in the school year, it was time to face a hard reality.

"While it is not ideal, if forced to finish the year with substitute teachers, we will," he said in the release.

He also said that the district offered teachers more money in a new offer April 14, but "the SEA negotiation team rejected it out of hand." And he challenged the SEA leadership to take the offer to its membership for a vote.

The SEA is asking parents to read its one-time offer online. Click here to see it.

Teachers want step and column raises restored, while the School Board says it can afford only to institute half-step increases for the next two years.

Board Says Union is Discouraging Testing

In a strongly worded statement, the School Board on Monday accused the SEA of running a campaign to encourage parents to exempt their 3rd- through 8th-graders from taking Ohio Achievement Assessment tests in an effort to hurt the district's ratings.
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The board points to the SEA's "recommendations" for the OAA tests, which explain to parents how to withdraw their children from testing, and calls the action "unconscionable."

Linscott denied the allegation.

She said parents have asked the SEA if their children have to take the test.

"Not if they don't feel they are adequately prepared," she said at a press conference Monday afternoon. "We are encouraging the parents to make the choice that is best for their kids."

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For other stories on the teachers' strike, click here.

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