Teachers rally outside Columbus City Schools board meeting as strike looms

Hundreds of Columbus Education Association members — as well as some parents and students — demonstrated before the Columbus City Schools Board of Education meeting Tuesday night, urging the school district to reach a new contract with the union representing teachers and other staff.

The "practice picketing" took place after union leaders and district officials earlier met for several hours with a federal mediator Tuesday. While a CEA spokeswoman said there was movement on two issues, the two sides failed to reach agreement on a new contract with the scheduled start of the school year on Aug. 24.

CEA and the board are scheduled to meet again Thursday as the board had requested two meetings this week in an effort to reach a settlement.

“1, 2, 3, 4, we won’t take it anymore! 5, 6, 7, 8, come on Board negotiate," CEA members chanted as they held signs that read "On Strike" with "practicing" stamped in green across the front.

CEA — the 4,000-member union that represents Columbus City Schools teachers and other employees — said the union and the school board were able to reach agreement on two outstanding issues, but CEA spokesperson Regina Fuentes said she didn’t know what those two issues were.

“We are still very far apart on a lot of things,” Fuentes said. “One of those things is being accountable when it comes to HVAC and fixing our schools and providing resources. We want language in the contract that speaks to the district coming through on their promises.”

“While we still do not have a compromise, we are encouraged that talks are ongoing,” Board President Jennifer Adair told the audience at the start of the board meeting. “We are fully committed to our teachers and to treating all of our employees with respect. We are bargaining in good faith, and we look forward to finding opportunities for unity and alignment.”

Adair said the CEA filed the notice of intent to strike without telling the board what it would take to reach an agreement.

“CEA continues to refuse to negotiate about compensation, which precludes us from getting our students back in their classroom,” she said. “Yet we remain hopeful that students and families will have the first day of school they deserve, in-person and with our teachers.”

Immediately after Adair's remarks, the board voted to go into executive session for about an hour to discuss personnel matters, as allowed by state law.

Columbus City Schools Superintendent Talisa Dixon said during Tuesday's board meeting she hopes the school board reaches an agreement with CEA before the start of the school year.

“But we are preparing for every possibility and our focus remains on laying the foundation for a strong start back for our students.”

Columbus City Schools parents speak out during board meeting

Eight Columbus City Schools parents and one student spoke up during the public comment portion of Tuesday's school board meeting, raising concerns about the ongoing negotiations.

"My impression of the administration is that they are wage thieves and they should try to pay our teachers in our schools what they deserve," said Inara Pompi, an eighth grader at Ridgeview Middle School.

Andrew Kline is worried about the possibility of having his five-year-old son start the school year remotely at Cranbrook Elementary School.

“Whoever came up with the idea that I’m going to send my first year kindergarten student to zoom school with a substitute teacher is completely out of touch with reality,” he said.

Sarah Short, the mom of a first-grade student at Indianola Informal K-8 School, said she feels helpless, stressed and frustrated about the possibility of “entering another year of uncertainty and interpreted learning.”

Patrick Clark, another parent of a Indianola Informal student, said his son performs better in school when he is able to interact with his teachers.

“My children are deeply privileged and I worry about the harm it will cause them,” he said. “I worry profoundly and deeply about the consequences students with less privileges than my children.”

Where do the negotiations stand?

The union has scheduled a meeting with its membership Aug. 21 to vote on whether to go on strike after giving its formal notice to the State Employment Relations Board last Thursday to strike if it does not reach a new contract agreement.

Among the contract hang-ups cited previously by the CEA: smaller class sizes; full-time art, music and physical education teachers; functioning heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in schools; more planning time for teachers; a cap on the number of class periods in the day; and "other working conditions that recruit and retain the best educators for out students."

The district has responded to the issue about HVAC systems by saying it is updating the HVAC systems in 13 school buildings this summer using $35.6 million in federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Funds created due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

While work to update the HVAC systems will be completed at seven of those buildings in time for the scheduled start of classes, work at six other buildings won't be completed until mid- to late-September.

Which Columbus City Schools will start the school year without full air conditioning?

In addition, two other buildings — Columbus Alternative High School and Hubbard Elementary School — will have to wait until the start of the 2023-2024 school year to get building-wide air conditioning.

Columbus City Schools, the state’s largest district with some 47,000 students, plans to start the school year remotely using non-union substitute teachers if CEA were to strike if a new contract agreement is not reached before school starts Aug. 24. District spokeswoman Jacqueline Bryant said the district has 600 substitutes who would be given the curriculum to teach remotely, according to information on a district webpage.

Columbus City school buildings would be closed to the public and athletics events and extra-curricular activities would be canceled as more than 60% of the coaches or sponsors heading the programs are teachers.

The last time the district went on strike was 1975.

Levy taken off November ballot

The school board approved 6-0 a resolution Tuesday night to take the $680-million, maximum 35-year bond issue and a 4.7-mill permanent improvement levy off the Nov. 8 general election ballot. Board member Michael Cole was absent from the meeting.

Board member Tina Pierce said taking the levy off the ballot was an issue of economic timing.

“Economically, these are hard times, so I don’t want our community to think the timing is wrong because of other reasons,” she said. “I want our community to be clear that our families are determining how they are going to pay their rent.”

Board member Carol Beckerle said the decision to not proceed with the levy was unfortunate for the students, but agreed the timing wasn't right.

“The way to make sure our buildings are in good condition is through a permanent improvement levy and a dedicated capital fund to keep them that way," she said.

Adair said the board is committed to bringing back the bond issue — which specifically will cover Columbus City Schools' local share of the fourth phase of the district's facilities master plan. That phase calls for the district to build five new buildings in the next five years:

• A high school with a student capacity of 1,600 to be built on the site of Marion-Franklin High School and the vacant Beery Middle School on the same lot on the city's South Side.

• A high school with a student capacity of 2,000 to be built on the site of Beechcroft High School on the city's Northeast Side.

• A middle school with a student capacity of 1,000 to be built on the site of Mifflin Middle School on the city's Northeast Side.

• An elementary school with a student capacity of 600 to be built on the site of Winterset Elementary School on the city's Northwest Side.

• An elementary school with a student capacity of 600 to be built on the site of Eakin Elementary on the city's Southeast Side.

The bond issue, which represents 2.83 mills in property tax, would have also paid for design work for a future fifth building phase by the school district.

The ballot measure would have resulted a total 7.53 in additional millage, or around a 13% increase in property taxes, for Columbus homeowners. The district said that works out to $267 in additional property taxes each year for every $100,000 of a home's assessed valuation.

Originally, the resolution to put the measure on the November ballot was approved in May by a 5-2 decision, with Adair, board Vice President Ramona Reyes and members Carol Beckerle, Eric S. Brown and Michael Cole in favor. Board members Pierce and Christina Vera were opposed.

mhenry@dispatch.com

@megankhenry

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus teachers strike still looms; no agreement Tuesday