Parents are speaking out about the potential teachers’ strike and what is being done on both sides to resolve it as tensions between Akron Public Schools (APS) and its teachers intensify.
After many allegations of campus violence, APS teachers declared last week that they would strike mere days after kids are expected to return from winter break. According to a news release, safety was one of their primary concerns.
The Akron Educational Association (AEA) representing Akron teachers says the move came after federal mediation failed to resolve a number of outstanding issues between teachers and the administration. The strike would begin at 12:01 a.m. on January 9th.
Teachers have been working under a contract that expired on June 30th, 2022, after the union and the administration failed to reach contract agreements after negotiations started in April. They declared an impasse in May.
To be ready for a potential work stoppage, the Akron School Board approved three resolutions at a special meeting. One of the resolutions is to allow Superintendent Christine Fowler Mack to contract with Huffmaster Crisis Response LLC, which provides strike services, including security and replacement staffing. Another is to grant Fowler Mack “authority in preparation for a strike.” And lastly authorizes Fowler Mack to carry out a strike “action plan” that includes home-based online education.
Parents in the district have been largely supportive of the potential strike and Akron teachers. Several of them comment that they hope the strike will make a change in safety for the district.
According to APS district parent Katie Price, she fully supports the strike.
“This is about the safety of Akron Public School students. Without a safe environment, learning cannot take place,” Price told The Ohio Star.
According to Price, at her child’s school, staff randomly sends students to a metal detector located in the gym. She says all schools need to have 1 or 2 metal detectors in addition to staff that can monitor them to search bags and prevent weapons from making it into the building.
“There was recently a stabbing at a high school and a middle schooler who brought a gun to school. If we can’t afford metal detectors and the required staff, maybe we need to come up with some more creative solutions,” Price continued.
Parent of four at APS Nikki Taylor said that the district needs to make safety changes immediately.
“I have seen firsthand over the years how disciplinary measures have decreased and violent and disrespectful behavior have increased. Our children, teachers, and staff deserve to feel safe and have their concerns be heard and addressed. They are the ones in the schools and classrooms,” Taylor told The Star.
Taylor continued that the district needs to discipline students who are verbally and physically abusive properly.
“The kids know that there are basically no consequences to their actions, hence all of the fights and weapons and disrespect to other students and staff. I think the metal detectors and bag checks are necessary at this point, but what happens after the kids get in the doors is the problem. Phone usage in school needs to be addressed and some rules need to be established and carried out. Students can organize and record the fights and that’s not OK. Bottom line, there need to be appropriate consequences for students’ words and actions,” Taylor told The Ohio Star.
According to parent and grandparent Tonia Wright, the administration visibly does not spend enough time inside the schools to see what’s going on.
“These teachers are humans, they have families too. They shouldn’t have to worry about going home at night. They shouldn’t have to worry about being cursed at, punched, spit on, or even worse, stabbed or shot. The administrators don’t spend time in these buildings and it shows. They don’t care what our students are going through, let alone our teachers. They care about the financial dealings and how they are going to come out on top. We love our teachers and our teachers love our students,” Wright told The Star.
The 20,000-student school system plans to begin classes on Friday, so if instructors strike, pupils may attend class in person on Friday before switching to online instruction on the following Monday. The reintroduction of online learning is intolerable for some parents.
According to Price, her child attends NIHF STEM Middle School which provides both specialized and project-based curricula for its students. Price says that she disagrees with the proposed online learning because “online isn’t a sufficient replacement for that type of instruction.”
“I do not agree with the proposed “blended learning plan.” According to the Ohio Department of Education, blended learning is supposed to be an actual blended environment of in-school and online learning. 100 percent online isn’t “blended.” Additionally, the verbiage of the policy clearly states that such learning cannot be used for staff shortages. The proposed plan is vague at best,” Price told The Star.
Taylor, who has 2 children at APS district high schools and two in APS middle schools, shares Price’s sentiment.
“After APS kept our kids out of in-person learning from March 2020-March 2021, they have to know how damaging that was in so many ways, even though we were being taught by our hard-working teachers. Apparently, a company, with ties to someone in our administration, is going to be running the online “learning” during the strike. It doesn’t seem like our children’s best interest is a priority, again,” Taylor told The Ohio Star.
According to Wright, no mention of anyone with a degree in education or certification in teaching the proposed online classes.
“We lived through the very disruptive virtual online learning option during covid. There were a lot of kids cursing, screaming, singing, and talking. Really, just kids doing anything except learning. That was in a setting with a teacher that was certified to teach. A teacher that went through training. I can’t imagine what online learning looks like with an ‘adult’ who has no training and questionable certification,” Wright told The Star.
In a Facebook Poll of APS parents, 65 percent of say they will not have their child log in for the proposed online schooling.
The general consensus from parents is that Akron families will not be crossing the picket line when the strike begins Monday.
“We support what we believe in, and we currently do not believe in our superintendent, administration, and board. We will stand with the people that care for our children and want what’s best for them,” Taylor told The Star.
According to AEA President Pat Shipe, the school district is not taking the strike seriously nor addressing the almost daily teacher assaults occurring.
“What we are mostly concerned with and overwhelmingly need addressed is what’s happening inside our buildings… issues of teacher assault, weapons in the buildings, with assaults happening on teachers almost on a daily basis. They are not addressing that in any meaningful way other than saying they are and not taking action and, quite frankly, again, if they were serious about it, why are they seeking to water down language and make assaults on teachers not assaults on teachers?” Shipe said.
She says it’s unlikely that the two sides will reach an agreement prior to Monday.
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Hannah Poling is a lead reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Hannah on Twitter @HannahPoling1. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Akron Education Association Building” by Akron Education Association.
