Union, APS reach agreement
By Jeff Gorman
DOWNTOWN AKRON — The Akron Public Schools (APS) District narrowly averted a strike by its secretaries this week.
After more than a year without a contract, the Akron Association of Classified Personnel reached an agreement with the school system Aug. 13. The Akron Board of Education voted to ratify the agreement at its meeting one day later.
“It’s good that everyone
in the family is back in the same house,” said
Superintendent Sylvester Small, who entered the negotiations
last week and helped to broker the
deal. “Now we can work on getting the schools
open. Nobody wanted a strike.”
Small said some of the union’s
concerns included working conditions, the handling of
layoffs and financial issues.
The breakthrough came at the
end of a marathon session that began at 9:30 a.m. Aug.
12 and stretched past midnight. The union had previously
authorized a strike that would have begun Aug. 14.
“Our main problem was communication,”
said Board President the Rev. Curtis Walker. “Once
we became clear on some things, we could see we were
not as far apart as we thought.”
The deal was retroactive to July
1, 2005, and will last until June 30, 2008.
Union spokeswoman Karen Dinkins
said the biggest issue in the negotiations
was the maintenance of proper staffing levels.
“They wanted to go back to
the contract we signed in 1999, which would have pulled
a secretary from each high school,” she said. “With
the added workload we have, we knew we couldn’t
do it. The workload would have been too great. People
would have been resigning right and left.”
Dinkins said the new contract
guaranteed 88.5 secretarial positions.
“In exchange for that,
we agreed that the board could move a secretary to a
different school if the enrollment changed,” she
said.
Dinkins said her union members
are pleased the standoff is over. However, she was disappointed
at the length of the labor dispute.
“The saddest part of all
is that they kept us negotiating
for 16 months,” she said. “They didn’t
get serious until we issued the strike notice. This
could have been over a long time ago.”
In other news, the school board approved
a policy on accelerating gifted students.
“Students who can move
at a faster pace will not be tied to an age-by-grade
system,” said Sue Long, the assistant superintendent
for curriculum and instruction. “We’ve done
this with some students informally. This will be a more
formalized process.”
In order to jump ahead a grade,
a student must meet the requirements of the Akron school
board and the state. The student also must pass a test
to move ahead.
Under the policy, an advanced
child may enter prekindergarten early or graduate from
high school ahead of schedule.
Also, Business Affairs
Director David James said Aug.
18 is the deadline for citizens who would like to be
on the Citizens Monitoring Committee or the Citizens
Advisory Committee.
The former group will keep an eye
on the school reconstruction project. The latter will
discuss rules and procedures for the new buildings.
Anyone interested in serving
on either committee should call James at (330) 761-2805.
The Joint Board of Review met
before the school board meeting to handle the business
of the school reconstruction.
The joint board approved contracts
for furniture in the new Judith A. Resnik and Voris
Community Learning Centers. The contracts are with Continental
Educational Environments of Columbus for $369,620.
Also, the joint board
approved a contract with Clayton
Group Services of Akron. The company will monitor the
air quality at the Central Learning Center, located
at 400 W. Market St., for $13,500.
Finally, the joint board approved
a pair of contracts for environmental services, such as
asbestos abatement. Emerald Environmental of Akron will
do the job at Barber, Rimer and Innes schools for a total
of $110,000. Gandee & Associates of Akron will perform
the work at Portage Path Elementary School and East High
School for a total of $80,000.
The next Akron school board meeting
is scheduled for Aug. 28 at 5:30 p.m. at the Administration
Building, 70 N. Broadway. The joint board will meet
at 4 p.m.
|
