Why Streetsboro teachers are on the verge of striking
Faced with the challenges of Covid and stagnant wages, teachers have not found common ground with the school board.
By Madison MacArthur
News Lab
Streetsboro Education Association (SEA) and Streetsboro Support Staff Personnel Association (SSSPA) are nearing the end of the 10-day strike notice they approved on Oct. 13.
The unions will have to vote once more in favor of striking before the actual strike begins. SEA’s next meeting with the Streetsboro school board is Oct. 26; SSSPA does not have a meeting set.
Holly Paterniti, spokesperson for both SEA and SSSPA, said both unions want their concerns to be heard by the school board as they continue to negotiate a contract.
“The SEA and the SSSPA will continue to fight for the health and safety of all Streetsboro students and staff, as well as for fair compensation that will attract and keep quality employees here in Streetsboro,” Paterniti said.
Paterniti said that if the board returns with the same offer, the unions would likely move to strike.
Streetsboro teachers are currently on a rollover from their previous contract that began July 2016 and ended in June 2019. The rollover extended the contract until June 2020. The first meeting to negotiate a new contract was Nov. 7.
Kevin Grimm, president of the school board, said the bargaining team met with the union on 17 occasions over the past year. They will continue to try and reach a consensus at all meetings arranged by the federal mediator going forward.
The vote in favor of a strike notice paves the way for the unions to file the Notice of Intent to Strike and Picket with the Streetsboro Board of Education and the State Employees Relations Board at any time.
The Ohio Education Association, a teacher’s union representing more than 121,000 teachers, faculty and support staff in Ohioan schools, colleges and universities, plans to file unfair labor practice charges on behalf of the unions with the State Employment Relations Board (SERB).
The school board submitted it’s own unfair labor practice charge with the SERB against the SEA last Friday for what it called bad-faith bargaining, specifically a press release the unions sent to the Record-Courier that noted their intent to file the unfair labor practice charge.
Grimm said the press release, ahead of a contentious board meeting, disparaged the board’s bargaining team and alleged it’s acting in bad faith, creating a needless distraction with an untrue assertion.
“Continued attempts to undermine the bargaining process will only drive the parties farther apart and I know you don’t want that and neither do I,” Grimm said at the board meeting. “Regardless, should SEA and SSPA desire that outcome and elect to proceed with the strike, the board will be fully prepared to continue with the educational program for the district’s students and continuing extracurricular programs to the greatest extent possible.”
The Streetsboro school district currently allows students to choose online or in-person classes, but once the student decides, they must stay in that format for the entire semester. Teachers are in classrooms five days a week regardless.
The online program students use is Rocket Digital Academy, but Streetsboro teachers don’t teach the online students. The program is run by Lincoln Learning Solutions — teachers receive a stipend for grading the online work in addition to teaching and grading their in-person students.
Under the current contract, salaries start at $37,053 for teachers with bachelor’s degrees. Salaries for teachers with master’s degrees start at $41,499.
In the 2018–2019 school year, there was an agreed-upon 2 percent raise for teachers moving up each step, or year. For example, while the starting salary at zero years is $37,053 the next step is one year earning $39,091.
Teachers from both unions came to the Oct. 8 school board meeting to speak about their concerns.
“I have two children who attend our middle school and I have been a resident and a teacher here for 25 years,” said Linda Valenti, a fourth-grade teacher at Henry Defer Intermediate School. “I have worked for countless different administrators in this district, but I have worked alongside the same colleagues who are here this evening for all or many of my 25 years.”
During that time, teachers endured pay freezes and other cuts, Valenti said, when other needs in the community, such as building a new high school, were prioritized.
“When this pandemic began, we had to meet the needs of our students and families in ways that we had never even thought of before,” she said. “We spent more hours, not less, in trying to make sure all of our kids were OK.”
Even though teachers and staff “were afraid for their own health and safety, we returned” to the schools when they reopened in August, Valenti said.
Valenti said the unions have more concerns than money, like small class sizes, the health and wellness of students and staff, and working conditions. She alleges that even though negotiations stalled, the board continued to pay “hundreds of thousands of dollars” to its law firm, Pepple & Waggoner.
Pepple & Waggoner, which specializes in representing school boards, has represented other Ohio districts that ended up striking, including Strongsville, Reynoldsburg, Harrison Hills, Richmond Heights and Perkins, Valenti said.
“Please just sit at the bargaining table and listen, work alongside our teachers and support staff, not against us. Please stop causing our community any more division than we are already walking through in 2020 and please show some respect to the people in this room who have dedicated their entire career to serving the Streetsboro students and their families,” Valenti said.
Molly Klodor, an English teacher at Streetsboro High School followed Valenti, speaking on behalf of the SEA’s 150 members.
“Teachers at Streetsboro City Schools have demonstrated time and again our dedication to help our students succeed,” Klodor said. “We have put in over 800 additional hours outside of our contract time this year. Teachers work nights and weekends, early and late to prepare our students for whatever their futures hold.”
Three other union members raised concerns about the lack of support when it came to student discipline, mostly when students assault teachers and aides, and the increase of workload and expectations during the pandemic.
Kevin Grimm, the president of the board, spoke after the teachers.
“Before we continue I just want to let the community know that the board is aware that there are rumors that both SEA and SSSPA are planning to vote on whether to go on strike,” Grimm said. “The board is disheartened to learn the SEA and the SSSPA are considering resorting to a strike. The board would prefer to resolve its differences with the unions at the bargaining table and is committed to continue bargaining in good faith with both unions over successor contracts.”
Superintendent Michael Daulbaugh was contacted but did not respond with a comment.
This article was produced through a reporting partnership with the Collaborative News Lab @ Kent State University.
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