Schools
Revere Board Imposes Previous Contract on Teachers
Union president says that contract was rescinded, isn't valid. District may be in litigation as school board members run to keep their seats in November.
In a decision likely to be challenged in court, the Revere Local Schools Board of Education on Tuesday imposed a contract agreement with teachers that had been reached before the May 3 levy passed, but was apparently rescinded because funding for the contract did not yet exist.
“Our contention is that we rescinded it before that 30 days was up and their contention as that we did not and therefore it’s been imposed,” said Revere Education Association President Paul Fisher.
“Last night they went ahead and approved that at the special board meeting and I spoke out against that.”
The board vote was 4-1, with Claudia Hower voting against the measure. Bill Hoover, George Seifert, Mario Bonacci and Joe Forcina voted in favor of imposing the agreement.
Superintendent Randy Boroff and board President Hoover could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
“In March the board proposed an agreement to extend our contract and the REA, the union, agreed to that contract,” Fisher said. “The board went to make that official at a board meeting and found out from their lawyer that they were unable to certify it because they didn’t have the funds, enough funds to certify it for the full three-year extension that was proposed. So they were unable to certify it at that time.” The union had agreed to a three-year pay freeze in that contract.
“As soon as that happened they asked the union to rescind the offer so we could go back to the table and continue to negotiate to try to find an agreement that would be acceptable to both parties.
“The REA did that and then we had two more negotiation sessions, one in April and one in May, nothing was agreed to at that time – we were still trying to reach an agreement – and just last week they contacted us and told us that they were going to go ahead and impose the three-year contract that we had agreed to back in March but had not been agreed to again, and in fact had been rescinded back in April.
“They’re claiming that since they didn’t act on it, there’s a part of the Ohio Revised Code that if there’s an agreement and the school board does not either accept or reject it within 30 days it becomes implemented,” Fisher said.
For now, the status quo seems to stand.
“What happens now is the school board (that) handles the paychecks and all those things, they’re going to pay us according to the agreement that was reached in March – we still have one year left on our current contract, so we’re expecting that to be honored,” Fisher said.
Fisher said he expects litigation to follow this decision, litigation that is likely to be costly to the school district.
“At this point we’re assuming it’s going to end up in the courts somewhere and become a legal battle.”
“I hope that’s not the next step,” Fisher said. “But the board seems unwilling to accept our set of facts and seem quite intent on sticking to that original agreement.”
Asked if the contract could become an issue during this fall’s elections, Fisher said, “I think our community wants a school board that does things in a responsible manner and works collaboratively with the teachers and the unions in the district and not one that is quite so antagonistic.”