Looming Akron teacher strike: Here's what parents and caregivers need to know
The Akron Education Association, which represents about 2,800 teachers and licensed professionals, filed a 10-day strike and picket notice Dec. 29, telling its members to be prepared to strike at 12:01 a.m. Jan. 9.
Classes are scheduled to resume from winter break this Friday. It’s possible Akron's 20,000 students will return to school that day, only for the strike to begin the following Monday.
As Akron braces for a possible strike by the union representing Akron Public Schools teachers next week, here is what we know so far about how we got here and what will happen next.
Will there still be school for students if Akron teachers strike?
The Akron Board of Education voted to allow Superintendent Christine Fowler Mack to implement a strike “action plan” that includes online instruction at home.
Details of the plan will be shared with families via email and all-call messages. Information also will be available on the district’s webpage.
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Will students be counted as absent if their parents don't want them to attend classes online in support of the teachers?
District spokesman Mark Williamson said Friday that students will be expected to attend online classes to maintain their attendance.
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"Public education is required under Ohio law, and an employee strike is not a valid excuse for a scholar's absence," the district states in a "frequently asked questions" section about the potential strike on its website.
Will Akron Public Schools buses continue to run?
Bus drivers, who are not in the teachers union, will continue to serve students who do not attend Akron Public Schools, Williamson said.
Will food be available for Akron students enrolled in breakfast and lunch programs?
The schools will provide grab-and-go meals. The food workers are not part of the teachers union, Williamson said.
Meal bags will be available from 11 a.m. to noon at these locations:
Buchtel Community Learning Center, 1040 Copley Road.
East Community Learning Center, 80 Brittain Road.
Firestone Community Learning Center, 470 Castle Blvd.
Garfield Community Learning Center, 1326 Brown St.
Ellet Community Learning Center, 309 Woolf Ave.
Jennings Community Learning Center, 227 E. Tallmadge Ave.
Innes Community Learning Center, 1999 East Ave.
Portage Path Community Learning Center, 55 S. Portage Path.
Robinson Community Learning Center, 1156 Fourth Ave.
What will happen to sports practices, games and other extracurricular activities?
Bad news for kids who love their activities outside the classroom: Everything will be postponed for the duration of any strike, Williamson said. Among the events at risk is the Bill Dies Memorial Wrestling Tournament scheduled for Jan. 13-14 at Firestone. The tournament was canceled the past two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the 2020 tournament had a modified schedule because of the threat of a blizzard and the 2018 event was canceled due to wintry weather.
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Will help be available for students with special needs or those who depend on school services?
In the event of a strike, parents and caretakers of these children should contact the district’s Office of Special Education for instructions. The phone number is 330-761-1661.
Will child care be available if there is an APS teacher strike?
The district plans to offer a limited number of seats at designated student support centers for families that have no other options for child care. If a strike appears imminent, APS will start a preregistration process. This is not traditional childcare or a school instruction setting, Williamson said. It is only a place where children can sit to complete their work when caregivers have no other option.
Emergency child care will be available for kindergarten through fifth grade 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday at these locations:
Ellet Community Learning Center, 309 Woolf Ave.
Jennings Community Learning Center, 227 E. Tallmadge Ave.
Innes Community Learning Center, 1999 East Ave.
Portage Path Community Learning Center, 55 S. Portage Path.
Robinson Community Learning Center, 1156 Fourth Ave.
APS preschool programs and after-school day care at APS locations will not continue during a strike. However, Head Start programs at Portage Path and Robinson CLCs will still be in operation.
What if Akron students don’t have access to the internet for online classes?
It’s not clear what the schools may be planning to help those students, but the Akron-Summit County Public Library offers free internet service to visitors inside and immediately outside of its buildings. The library branches also lend out free T-Mobile wireless hotspots, though you’ll have to pay for lost or damaged equipment. When Columbus City Schools teachers went on strike in August for three days, that city opened its recreation centers so students could access Wi-Fi. It’s unclear if Akron is considering something similar. Also in Columbus, some parents refused to let their children take online classes during the strike, refusing to cross a virtual picket line.
Will in-person tech support be available for Akron students?
Yes, the district is planning to offer technology support 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at these locations:
Buchtel Community Learning Center, 1040 Copley Road.
East Community Learning Center, 80 Brittain Road.
Firestone Community Learning Center, 470 Castle Blvd.
Garfield Community Learning Center, 1326 Brown St.
Ellet Community Learning Center, 309 Woolf Ave.
Jennings Community Learning Center, 227 E. Tallmadge Ave.
Innes Community Learning Center, 1999 East Ave.
Portage Path Community Learning Center, 55 S. Portage Path.
Robinson Community Learning Center, 1156 Fourth Ave.
Will Akron school buildings be open during a strike?
Only buildings that are operating as feeding sites or student support centers will be open, according to the district's strike preparation website. All other buildings will be closed to students and the community during a strike to ensure safety.
How did we get to the brink of an Akron teacher strike?
The Akron Public Schools teachers union contract expired June 30. Members have been working under terms of the old contract while it and the Akron Board of Education worked on a new one.
They could not agree. And under terms set in the expired union contract, the union and the board next turned to an independent fact-finder to offer potential solutions.
The fact-finder’s report, released in November, detailed 19 issues the district and its teachers union could not agree on and offered recommendations representing wins for both sides.
The union rejected the report, while the Akron Board of Education accepted it.
Again, following terms of the expired union contract, negotiators for both the schools and the union next turned to a federal mediator in mid-December to sort out a new contract.
Pat Shipe, president the Akron Education Association, said those talks broke down when negotiators for the Akron school board did not respond to a union counterproposal.
The union then filed its intention to strike.
Is money a stumbling block between the teachers union and the school board?
Yes. The school board is offering for 1.95%, 1.95% and 2.1% raises for members of the teachers union in each of the next three years, plus a $500 contract signing bonus.
The board said those wage increases are in line with other recently negotiated contracts.
The union, amid U.S. inflation that’s at its highest in two generations, initially sought more than three times that.
It first proposed annual raises of 7%-7%-6.25%, though it later lowered that to annual wage increases of 5% over each of the next three years.
The fact-finder recommended 2.25% increases in the first two years of the new contract and a 2.5% increase in the final year, higher than — but closer to — the board’s proposal.
Additionally the school district proposed hiking health insurance costs for union members 1% in 2024 and 2025.
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The union argued the pandemic delivered health care cost savings for the district and additional expenses for members.
The fact-finder recommended no increases to contributions on union members’ health care premiums in all three years of the new contract.
Is school safety also an issue in contract negotiations?
Yes. A vote and survey by teachers union members said their biggest issues were school safety and student discipline. One particular issue is how “assault" is defined in the union contract.
The administration wanted to replace “contact” with “injury” in the teacher contract language as a way to determine physical assault.
The fact-finder said in his report that physical contact can be intentional or unintentional, like if a student accidentally bumps into a teacher.
“Assault, however, by its nature and definition is an intentional act that places an individual in reasonable apprehension of bodily harm,” the fact-finder report said, concluding that the term “contact” is vague and ambiguous and that physical injury is more explicit.”
Attorney Don Malarcik, who represents the teacher union, has said the word “injury” is not entirely clear, either.
"Does that mean someone has to be hospitalized? Does it mean a teacher has to be miss work? Do they have to go to the hospital and get a doctor's appointment? Is there a broken bone? Bleeding, bruising?” Malarcik asked late last year.
According to a school counselor who provided information to Malarcik, there were 60 physical assaults against staff through part of November in 2022.
Administrators note that 25% of these cases involved kindergartners.
The union’s research says only 11 cases (18%) involved a kindergartner assaulting a staff member. More often, by the union's count, it’s middle schoolers. Grades 6-8 accounted for nearly half (27) of the 60 cases to date. Only nine cases involved high school students, according to the school counselor.
Other issues in play are shorter summer breaks and digitizing student records.
Are negotiations continuing ahead of the strike deadline?
The negotiating teams for the district and teachers union are scheduled to resume contract talks with a federal mediator Thursday and Saturday.
Shipe has said the school board "must withdraw any proposals that contribute to more violent behavior which forces students and educators to continue to endure unsafe and chaotic disruptions which prevent learning." The board must publicly acknowledge what they have been saying privately, she said, adding that the schools have the financial ability to pay and sustain fair and responsible wages which retain qualified educators.
Where will teachers and other union members picket if there is a strike?
AEA has a strike organization in place and will work with its membership to staff selected picket lines, Shipe said.
She did not elaborate on those plans, but said AEA has received an outpouring of support from the Akron community, from all APS unions like bus drivers, secretaries, custodians, cafeteria works and others, including labor unions in other school districts and private-sector unions. "Our labor brothers and sisters are united in our efforts to secure safe schools and responsible and fair wages," she said.
Will Akron Education Association union members continue to be paid during a strike?
Wages will stop when members are on strike, Shipe said. "Our members are overwhelmingly supporting the decision to make the ultimate sacrifice for themselves and their families in order to ensure safe schools for the students, teachers, and families of Akron Public Schools," she said.
When was the last time Akron teachers went on strike?
In January 1989, members of the same union in Akron went out on strike for nine school days over several of the same sorts of issues today's teachers are worried about, including money and safety.
There was no widespread use of the internet, and the invention of the world wide web was still a year away, so online classes were not an option.
That year, union members overwhelmingly voted to accept a new contract, guaranteeing raises of 2.75% the first year, 3.25% the second and 4% the third.
The contract also included policy establishing minimum one-day suspensions for 24 student offenses and created committees, including teachers, at each school to establish minimum discipline guidelines for things like truancy and tardiness.
Parents and children both seemed to celebrate going back to school. One family had a sign in their yard that said: “We’re bored and our mom’s losing it.”
Akron had about 34,000 students at the time. Now, it has about 20,000.
Akron also narrowly averted a teacher strike in 1994 with a last-minute agreement.
Beacon Journal reporter Doug Livingston and freelance writer Katie Byard Carney contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron teacher strike questions answered, what to know
