NILES, Ohio — Negotiations for a northeast Ohio school district are coming down to the wire.

What You Need To Know

  • The Niles Education Association’s contract with the board ends at midnight on Wednesday

  • Similar to Columbus City Schools, negotiations have taken place since March with no deal

  • Also similar to CCS/CEA, unfair labor practices were filed as NEA said information about the negotiations was shared with the public by the board president 

  • Educators said the primary focus is economic issues

NEA Spokesperson Traci Kempe said the base pay for teachers is a major sticking point. In other districts in Trumbull County, she said educators make $34,000.

 

Kempe said the biggest issue is that while Niles City Schools is the third largest district in Trumbull County, they are the second lowest paid.

"Our base salary is $31,097. Neighboring communities that we border, on three different borders of Niles, they're between six and $8,000 more, than the starting pay salary," Kempe said. "We're nowhere near schools that border us. We're nowhere near the county average. But yet our administrators are at the top of the county.”

Yet, the board said a statement that in two tentative agreements reached:

"Those tentative agreements provided for increases in base pay every year for the next three years, in addition to many of the teachers' step raises that average 3% or more per year," the board said. "Our teachers rejected those agreements even though the increases in base pay were above state average for each year and represented the largest wage proposal increase for our teachers in more than a decade."

Kempe said it’s tough because, in 2019, educators took freezes in their wages and concessions in their health care to save the district money while on fiscal emergency watch, as the Niles City School district faced budget deficits. 

“Between us renegotiating our health care and not replacing 12 teachers, we saved the district $1.5 million to help pull us out of that fiscal emergency in January 2022,” Kempe said

Still, addressing the community online, the district said administrators and the superintendent made financial concessions and did not take contracted raises as NEA claims.

Negotiations with a federal mediator continue Wednesday with both sides at the table. Both sides have indicated that they want a fair and equitable deal.

"We hope they will lead to a mutual agreement and avert the union’s intention to strike on Thursday, September 1,” said Superintendent Ann Marie Thigpen. "We cannot say this enough – our number one priority remains our students."

If the board of education and the union cannot come to an agreement, the union will vote to authorize a strike, and the strike would officially begin September 1st.

For students, that means remote learning begins Thursday. Pre-K to 5 would get at-home learning packets, while students in grades 6-12 would be set to log online to work at their own pace. 

Like Columbus City Schools, attendance will count, but sports will carry on except for extra-curricular activities. Grab-and-go meals will be provided.