Teachers contract pending

A sticking point is
apparently close to
being smoothed out.

AUSTINTOWN — The Austintown Board of Education and its teachers could have a new two-year contract by Tuesday.

The board and teachers union have a “conceptual” agreement on all issues, Superintendent Doug Heuer said about 5 p.m. Friday.

Alf Nelson Jr., the Ohio Education Association’s labor relations consultant, agreed that an agreement was close.

Heuer and Nelson said that language in the contract has to be finalized. That will be done over the weekend, so both sides will have the information for the proposed pact Monday.

Plans call for the teachers to begin voting on the contract Tuesday morning.

If the teachers approve the pact, the board will call a special meeting to approve the contract.

Heuer and Nelson were upbeat about the likelihood of a new agreement.

Talks began last April. A sticking point had been whether teachers would have a planning period.

Neither Heuer nor Nelson could release specifics about the pending settlement.

Former board President Michael Creatore, who had an acrimonious relationship with the teachers organization, left the school board at the end of December. He has said he believed the union was stalling to be able to negotiate without him.

But Nelson said the board of education was “willing to engage in meaningful give and take during bargaining.”

When asked if it might take a few more days to iron out the contract language, Nelson said an extra day or so wouldn’t mean much after the length of the talks.

Sandy DeCerbo, president of the Austintown Education Association, did not return calls to comment.

But union spokesperson Tina Kubacki said she was “guardedly hopeful” a new contract is close to being approved.

A big sticking point has been that teachers want the right to decide how much planning time they need, but the board wanted building administrators to schedule it.

The 326 educators in the union will vote at their schools. The ballots will be collected from each building school and counted, so results may not be announced until later in the day Tuesday.