Edison Schools, teachers agree on new contract

MILAN TWP. — The same week classes began at Edison Schools coincided with teachers and administrators finding common ground, signing a new collective bargaining agreement and avoiding a possible strike. During this past week's special meeting, school board members and the teachers union ratified a new two-year contract. The new agreement includes a 2.25% base salary increase in the first year and a 2% increase in the second year. Other clauses contain health care benefits. Additionally, there's a new remote learning plan that would allow teachers to educate students virtually if needed. Last school year, Edison Schools used an outside company. "We're happy that we were able to have what we feel was a new contract with our teachers," superintendent Tom Roth said. "We are excited to start the school year ready to focus on our kids." Rhonda Fisher, co-president of the union, said the new contract is "fair and equitable to both parties." "We worked hard together to reach an agreement that would pass both groups and would be fiscally sound for the taxpayers of the community," she said. "We feel that the members were satisfied with what we brought back or we would have kept bargaining." About 80% of Edison Schools' teachers are unionized, Fisher said. Speaking up In July, more than 30 educators showed up to a public board meeting in solidarity for a new agreement after the previous contract expired at the end of June. Both sides were scheduled to negotiate a new contract last year, but, due to the pandemic, the old contract rolled over. Beginning June 7, teachers and board members exchanged proposals, Fisher said. Teachers continued working under the terms of the expired contract until the new agreement was reached. Fisher said last month the union had fewer than three days of bargaining before the board declared an impasse and sought a federal mediator. At July's board meeting, Jen Wobser, an Edison High School English teacher, addressed the board for the group and recounted the challenges educators have faced since the pandemic began. "We spent countless hours learning to teach in a new way. Never in our history has anyone accomplished what teachers accomplished in the last year-and-a-half," Wobser told the board. "We are asking for your consideration in settling a fair contract. We ask that you keep in mind the environment in which our students learn." Wobser said, during the pandemic, teachers had to purchase necessary supplies and resources out of pocket, like laptops, cameras, internet boosters and cleaning supplies. "We all witnessed many sacrifices among staff and students," Wobser said. "Sacrificing planning periods to help cover other teachers' classes, sometimes multiple times per week due to a substitute shortage, might begin to spread staff quite thin." None of the school board members commented on Wobser's concerns. "Teachers also went far out of their way to create a completely online curriculum," Wobser said. "We all hope to know that the time, effort, thoughts, energy, care and heart put into our work matters. We're just asking for a fair contract." Reach reporter Caitlin Nearhood at nearhood@sanduskyregister.com and follow her on Twitter @CaitlinNearhood