Teachers' Union Promises Not to Disrupt Strongsville School Board Meeting

The Strongsville Education Association is urging the Board of Education not to cancel its meeting scheduled for Thursday, April 18.

The SEA, in a news release, says there are rumors the School Board, which canceled its last three meetings due to the ongoing teachers strike, will do so again.

However, it does not appear the meeting will be canceled.

The school district on Tuesday sent out official notice of the meeting and said the location will be changed to the Strongsville High School auditorium to accommodate the large crowd expected to attend.

The meeting starts at 7 p.m.

The SEA's release says that to encourage the board to meet, "SEA wants to make it clear that they will in no way disrupt the meeting with demonstrations," the release says. "The only SEA members that will attend the meeting are those with children who attend Strongsville City Schools, who will respectfully attend the meeting just as any other community member is encouraged to do."

Other members of the SEA will "peacefully assemble outside on Lunn Road, far away from the meeting," it says.

At the board's last few meetings before the teachers strike started March 4, SEA members and supporters turned out in the hundreds. At a Feb. 7 meeting, teachers who couldn't fit into the meeting room stood outside and chanted "Let us in" while the meeting was going on.

Others stood outside the windows and chanted things like "Do the right thing, John" and "fair contract" loudly, disrupting the session.

The first movement toward a settlement in the six-week-old strike came early this week when the School Board, citing an unexpected $3.2 million windfall in tax revenue, drafted a new proposal -- the first since presenting a last best offer March 2 -- that includes half-step raises and a few other concessions.

The SEA made a counter-proposal that makes concessions on health care contributions and other things, but includes full step increases as well as column increases, limits on class sizes, rules for teachers' work load and a "no reprisal" clause for teachers' actions during the strike.

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

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