AKRON, Ohio — The Akron Board of Education and the Akron Education Association, the union that represents the district’s teachers, reached a tentative agreement Sunday night during a federal mediation session to avoid a strike that would have disrupted learning for more than 20,000 students.
On Dec. 29, the teachers union issued a 10-day strike notice, agreeing to walk off the job and onto the picket line Monday if the two parties didn’t come to an agreement.
It came down to the wire, but the union and the education board have come together to form a tentative agreement that Spectrum News 1 was told addresses safety concerns and includes pay increases.
The Akron Board of Education voted to approve the contract Monday night.
The next step is for union members to hear the details of this agreement and vote on it. They are expected to be doing that Tuesday evening at their ratification meeting.
If union members vote yes, then they will have a new contract.
“We were not going to return to school if that contract language was watered down and teachers were asked and students were asked to absorb more violent disruptive behavior,” explained Don Malarcik, council for the teachers union. “So we accomplished that. We got everything we wanted with respect to the contract language and how it defines assault.”
Neither party has shared the details of this tentative agreement so far.
