Teachers' Strike: What to Expect This Weekend

The Strongsville Education Association and school officials will try one last time today to reach a contract agreement before a teachers' strike on Monday.

Saturday

A negotiating session is scheduled for 9 a.m. at the office of a mediator in Independence.

Teachers, who have gathered to protest at other negotiating sessions, at school board meetings and in front of school board members' homes, are not expected to organize at Saturday's session.

Sources from the Ohio Education Association said there is no telling how long the session will last.

"If they're close to a settlement, they'll bargain all day," a source said. "If not, the meeting will end quickly."

Sunday

The SEA membership will meet at 5 p.m. to discuss the next step. 

If a contract agreement has not been reached, the members present at the meeting will take a vote, by secret ballot, on whether to strike.

An OEA source said strike meetings typically last five or six hours. The SEA is expected to release a statement with the results of the strike vote, but that may not happen until around midnight.

A strike would take effect at midnight. Schools, staffed by substitute teachers, will be open on Monday and students are expected to attend, the Strongsville School Board said.

Strongsville Patch will have up-to-the-minute news on the strike throughout the weekend.