AKRON, Ohio — Teachers who are members of the Akron Education Association (AEA) overwhelmingly rejected a fact finder's recommendations for a new labor contract.
According to AEA President Pat Shipe, 99% of members said no to recommendations for a successor agreement.
"Through their vote, Akron educators sent a strong and unified message that they will continue to put student and staff safety first. This vote demonstrates that our educators will not accept the superintendent's prioritizing the district's image while ignoring dangerous conditions inside our school buildings," Shipe said. "The reality is our schools are not safe."
A special school board meeting was held on Monday afternoon during which Akron school board members voted to approve the fact finder's recommendations that were rejected by the teachers union.
Shipe pointed out there have been multiple large fights in schools this month and another incident in which one student stabbed another student in a bathroom at Firestone High School. Police said the injuries were not life-threatening.
A few days before that at Seiberling Community Learning Center, Pam Toppin, a 70-year-old tutor, was pushed to the ground and injured while two sixth-graders were fighting.
"I went to the emergency room and I have a sprained back and a sprained neck," Toppin said. "And they found I have something with my knee going on."
In a letter to APS employees earlier this month, Superintendent Christine Fowler Mack highlighted safety initiatives, including walk-through safety audits of all buildings, additional inspections to ensure door alarms and cameras are functional, an increased presence of a safety team (including police) where disruptions are more frequent, and the establishment of a Safety Advisory Council.
Fowler Mack also said the district's goal is to redirect students towards positive choices and to "do everything we can to avoid removing them from our schools..."
"Our parents appreciate the manner in which we approach student discipline with a restorative rather than a punitive lens," she wrote.
However, Shipe said approximately 30 teachers have reported being assaulted by students in buildings during the first few months of the school year.
Several teachers believe the district isn't following the student code of behavior when it comes to disciplining kids who assault teachers.
"Yes, they'll get a small discipline, but then they're right back. There's no legitimate follow through from this administration," said Alana Treen, a world history teacher at East High School.
Shipe said negotiations will shift to federal mediation. If mediation doesn't resolve differences, the union could issue a 10-day strike notice as early as December.
Shipe stressed a notice doesn't mean teachers would strike, but it becomes a possibility.
Akron School Board President Dr. N.J. Akbar gave the following statement:
The Akron Public Schools Board of Education has reviewed the fact-finder’s report concerning contract issues being negotiated between the school district and the teachers’ union (Akron EducationAssociation/AEA). Our board finds the report to be fair and reasonable and accepts it as we go forward in the process of agreeing on a contract. Our vote tonight demonstrates our position. We so voted tonight.
The AEA voted last night to reject the fact-finding report issued by an impartial fact-finder mutually selected by both parties. The board’s negotiating team has met with the union many times throughout this process, including one session facilitated by a federal mediator. That process has yielded many great results and we have reached tentative agreements on several items. Our priority remains our students and we believe our dedicated teachers share that priority.
We have no intention of negotiating this contract in public; our hope is to reach a fair and fiscally responsible agreement that keeps the education of our students front and center.
We are hopeful we can resolve this soon, given we have one more step at our disposal in this process.
With the union’s rejection of the fact-finding report, the parties will now request the assistance of a federal mediator to aid the parties in reaching an agreement on the remaining issues thus avoiding a strike.
We appreciate the community’s support, and we look forward to reaching an agreement with our teachers.
Mack declined to comment to News 5 ahead of Monday's meeting.
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