Austintown board, teachers set contract talks for today
Neither side is giving out much information on
contract details.
AUSTINTOWN — The board of education has agreed to sit down for at least one more bargaining session with the district’s teachers.
The Austintown Education Association and the district’s bargaining teams were to meet at 10 a.m. today in response to a request from the AEA that bargaining continue after its membership rejected a proposal from the board Wednesday.
The board decided to participate in today’s session after discussing the request in a closed-door meeting Friday.
Board president Michael Creatore said Friday afternoon he does not anticipate there will be any more bargaining after today.
“I would anticipate the board’s attorney would reiterate the board’s position,” he said.
After that, he expects “one of two things” to happen: There will either be a tentative agreement, or the board’s attorney will decline further negotiations.
Schools Superintendent Doug Heuer said he was hoping the AEA would come away from the session with positions and a proposal to take back to its membership so it can vote again.
“We’ve been at this a long time,” he said. “We believe we have a fair proposal. So we wait and see.”
Neither the union nor the district will divulge any details about issues in talks or about the proposal that was voted down. Seventy-five percent of the membership voted against it.