GARFIELD HEIGHTS, Ohio — While a strike isn’t off the table, teachers and the Garfield Heights City Schools Board of Education are making headway.

The two sides met Tuesday, Oct. 11 to negotiate various items including an increase in pay and more professional development opportunities for teachers.

“We have we have asked for that professional development to be much more meaningful,” said Susan Hart, a member of the Garfield Heights Teachers’ Association. "Things that we would like to see that would that would really help us."

Recently, the teachers' union voted to give teachers the go ahead to strike, if needed.

Teachers at GHCS have been working without a contract since the end of June. 

In a statement, the union claimed its educators are the lowest paid of any school district in Cuyahoga County and have been physically assaulted by students with little repercussion from the administration. 

Meanwhile, the school district told Spectrum News the two sides have come to an agreement one one thing: allowing teachers time for specific planning, preparation and teacher workdays.

In a statement, the district said:

“The Garfield Heights City Schools met in negotiations Tuesday, October 11th with GHTA, in what became a productive session of more than seven hours of discussions, and which resulted in a tentative agreement achieved on several important issues, such as time for specific plan preparation and teacher workdays. Additionally, the school district and GHTA agreed to continue negotiations on Monday, October 17th, with the hopes of reaching agreement on even more of the several issues which remain. The Garfield Heights City Schools recognizes that our community, including members of the GHTA, is concerned about the prospect of a strike, but the Board of Education will continue to work diligently to compromise on issues and reach agreements, as demonstrated in the session on October 11th, in an effort to avoid such an outcome.”

Both parties are expected to continue negotiations on Monday, Oct. 17.

“Garfield Heights teachers' association has really been standing strong with wanting the safety, stability and success of the students,” Hart told Spectrum News. 

Meanwhile, teachers across the state, including Melanie Hameed, stand strong with the teachers in Garfield Heights.

“Teachers are very giving and now they’re demanding the things that they need to actually function in this position,” said Hameed, a teacher in Warren, Ohio and president of the North Eastern Ohio Education Association. “It’s about time that somebody answered besides us.”

Hameed said the immense amount of work teachers are loaded with had become more visible thanks to the pandemic, thanks to remote learning and kids learning at home, allowing parents to see the struggles of teaching, firsthand. 

“I think the pandemic cracked open a whole bunch of things that the public was not aware of,” said Hameed. 

The pandemic, Hameed said, is also pushing teachers to fight harder for certain items like more school supplies, more support dealing with larger class sizes, and more money to keep up with the rise in health care costs. 

The Garfield Heights Teachers’ Association released a statement regarding the latest on negotiations with the Garfield Heights City Schools District.