GARFIELD HEIGHTS, Ohio — Amid ongoing negotiations, the Garfield Heights Teachers' Association (GHTA) has issued a 10-day notice for a strike.
The notice comes one day after GHTA met with district administrators in an attempt to resolve their weeks-long contract dispute. GHTA had previously issued a 10-day strike notice in September following five months of negotiations before the two sides met with a federal to assist in efforts to work out a deal and avoid the strike.
Garfield Heights teachers have been working without a contract since their previous collective bargaining agreement expired on June 30. A tentative strike date is set for Monday, Oct 31.
In a statement, GHTA spokesperson Susan Hart said:
“The decision to issue the 10-day notice was not an easy one for our members to make. We want to be in our classrooms with our students more than anything. We want to come to a reasonable resolution with the board that addresses the needs of our teachers, students, and community. Our negotiating team was encouraged by the progress made by both sides during bargaining today; however, during a break, the board’s team left the building without any notification or rationale. After this display of disrespect towards our members and the collective bargaining process, we moved forward with issuing the strike notice to the district with heavy hearts. We have the utmost faith in our bargaining team and will continue to support them as they work to reach a resolution with the GHCS Board of Education. It is our hope that, through continued efforts by both parties, we will be able to reach a tentative agreement and avoid a strike on October 31. If that does not happen, our teachers are ready to head to the picket line.” Ms. Hart added, “We have lost 46 teachers in the past year. One of the primary goals of the Association in this contract negotiation is to ensure that we can attract and retain quality teachers by securing sustainable working conditions language, adequate compensation, and competitive benefits in this contract. We must stop the bleed now more than ever. We don’t want to strike, but we can’t stand by while teachers are leaving in droves and the safety of our staff and students continues to be ignored.”
GHTA added that it has secured a federal mediator and is prepared to return to the bargaining table but has yet to receive a response from the board regarding the request.
As negotiations drag on, there are questions and concerns from parents in the Garfield Heights community with a potential teacher's strike looming.
Shaud Lemar's 9-year-old daughter is in the district. He says he's worried about the possibility for remote learning and how it could impact both her education and the family's schedule.
"I like to spend my days with the kids," he told 3News. "I don't want to have to switch my first shift job to go to second shift, that would be doing too much."
Sheila Wright has grandchildren in the district and is also a retired social worker. She supports the teachers, while also pointing out that kids need continuity when it comes to education.
"I think its very important that the teachers get what they need," Wright said. "They don't make enough money. It's ridiculous what they're paying. It's not that the sub doesn't know the child. Realistically what are they doing? They're there to assist the child. They're there to teach and here again, you've got to learn the child and you can't do that in a couple of weeks."
The district says there is a plan in place to make sure instruction will continue and it will relay details directly to families.
Meanwhile, parents patiently wait to find out what's next.
"Hopefully they don't go on strike this school year or next," Lemar said. "Hopefully they get everything together and give the teachers what they want."