By Steve Gunn
EAGnews.org

STRONGSVILLE, Ohio – The troubling news is that teachers in the Strongsville, Ohio school district went on strike this morning over the lack of a new collective bargaining agreement and school board demands for financial concessions.

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The much happier news is that school remained open in Strongsville, due to the school board’s gutsy decision to hire substitute teachers, and the replacement teachers’ courage in applying for the jobs while being harassed by union protesters.

The teachers union is apparently upset about several proposals made by the school board, including one that would continue a suspension of automatic annual step raises for teachers for another three years, according to a report from Cleveland.com.  The board also wants teachers to pay more for health and dental insurance, and wants to eliminate seniority as the major consideration in teacher layoffs and callbacks.

The district says it needs continued financial concessions from employees to overcome “projected losses over the next three years that total more than $16 million,” according to the news story.

“We cannot operate in the red,” Superintendent John Krupinski said. “Our proposal reflects those economic realities.”

Union officials are rejecting the district’s financial claims, calling the predictions of future budget deficits “meaningless.” Either they haven’t been following the news in recent years regarding K-12 financial problems, or they just don’t care.

The two sides held a final negotiation session Saturday, where little progress was reportedly made.

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Luckily students will not suffer due to the teachers’ decision to abandon them. The district has hired a full staff of substitutes and intends to carry on with the normal academic schedule.

But teachers applying for the substitute positions had to endure union harassment over the weekend, according to Cleveland.com.

The application process took place at the local police department, which volunteered to help with background checks to screen the replacement teachers.

The candidates were greeted with shouts of “scab” and “go home” from union members protesting outside the police department. One candidate told the newspaper “they kept telling me I was taking their job, and I said ‘I’m sorry, but I need a job, too. I have student loans to pay off.’”

Union protesters angered many in the community last week by protesting in front of school board members’ homes.