LORDSTOWN Standstill surprises oversight members

The union has not voted on the offer, nor have members authorized a strike.
By SHERRI L. SHAULIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
LORDSTOWN -- Members of the state commission overseeing school district finances say they were surprised by a report that the board of education and the classified employees union are at an impasse in contract talks.
School officials said they were, too.
"We were as blind-sided by that as you were," district treasurer Mark Ferrara told the commission at Tuesday's regular meeting.
Commission members -- who are appointed by the state to oversee all financial matters of the district, which is in fiscal emergency -- told school officials they were disappointed to learn of the reported impasse from news reports.
A published report had indicated the 24 members of the Ohio Association of Public School Employees Local 774 are waiting for a Nov. 6 session with a federal mediator to resolve contract negotiations, but no such session is scheduled.
Federal mediation
Ferrara and Superintendent Douglas E. Shamp said the school board presented its latest contract offer to the union roughly three weeks ago and was expecting classified employees to have met and voted by now.
Instead, board members said, district officials heard no word until reading about the reported mediation session.
Federal mediators are brought into school district contract talks only after an impasse is declared.
Ferrara said that's not the case in Lordstown, since the union has not voted on the board's latest offer, nor has it taken a strike authorization vote.
Ferrara said the board's attorney had spoken with federal mediators who said no sessions are scheduled for Nov. 6 or any other day.
Union president Debbie Richter could not be reached. A union meeting planned for today, however, is canceled.
The union represents secretaries, bus drivers, cafeteria workers and other support staff.
slshaulis@vindy.com