Youngstown fourth-grade teacher Brenda Kolesar puts up a protest sign Thursday at the strike vigil outside East High School.

YOUNGSTOWN — The Youngstown Education Association’s bargaining team and members began a vigil Thursday to establish an “indefinite presence” at East High School.

“This ends tonight,” they stated — pledging to not leave until an agreement is reached to end the teachers strike.

The union and school district continued to negotiate, including the Thursday meeting at East.

Hundreds of Youngstown educators, allies, and community members were expected, organizers said. A candlelight vigil began at dusk.

A protest sign hung outside of a tent stated: “I miss my students today, but I love them way too much not to fight for their future!”

Renee Short, a grade 7-8 choir teacher at Chaney Middle School, said this is her first year as a teacher.

“All the training I’ve done through college, and my career has led up to this big first day of school that never happened,” she said.

“It is really inspiring to see the union come together to stand up for what they believe in but it is a little disappointing as a first-year teacher because I don’t get to have that magical first day. I don’t get to meet the kids. We’re fighting for these kids, and I don’t even know their faces or their names yet.”

Gia Marra, a kindergarten teacher at Volney Rogers Elementary, said she misses her students.

“What haunts me the most about this is, we had our open house the day before the strike started, and we had these kids come. And I remember Edward with his new book bag and his new shoes, and Kay-Kay, and we had two girls named Olivia. They got new shoes, new school clothes and they were excited. I was excited, too.”

Also on Thursday, at West Side Bowl, the Mahoning County Democratic Party, including state Rep. Lauren McNally, held a fundraiser in support of the YEA, raising money to help support teachers should the strike extend beyond this week.

Culinary arts teacher Tricia Goodnough from Choffin Career and Technical Center said she wants to go back to school.

“This (negotiating) could have been done in March, and it’s not,” she said. “Oddly, (the strike) has become a great team-building activity.”

LENGTHY DISPUTE

“Our bargaining team and members will remain at East High School all night, if necessary, until an agreement is reached,” YEA spokesman Jim Courim said.

It was Day 12 of the strike against the Youngstown City School District. Teachers outside East had candles, signs, tents, pop-ups and other camping equipment.

The YEA has been on strike since Aug. 23, when the school year was scheduled to begin. At issue, the union says, is contract language relating to how teachers are promoted and transferred and the authority of Superintendent Jeremy Batchelor.

The union insists that the board refuses to change language in the YEA contract left over from the state’s takeover of the district. That language gave the CEO of the state-appointed Academic Distress Commission exclusive authority over personnel decisions, including promotions, raises, transfers, and all aspects of bargaining with the union.

Courim said the students started taking classes online Aug. 25, two days after the original start date.

“During the pandemic, they did online learning and we saw that there was a decrease in scores so I’m assuming we will see that when we get back into the classroom,” he said.