LORDSTOWN — The Lordstown Local School District’s teachers union has approved issuing a 10-day strike notice as the district prepares for the start of the 2024-25 academic year on Sept. 3.

Superintendent Greg Bonamase said in a statement that the administration was informed that the Lordstown Teachers Association voted to authorize the issuance of a 10-day strike notice arising from the labor impasse with the Lordstown Board of Education.The strike notice authorization means the union membership has given the bargaining unit the go-ahead to call a strike if its members see fit.

However, Bonamase said the administration has not received a strike notice, which is required by law prior to any work stoppage.

“In any event, it is important that our community knows that we are prepared to remain open and fully operational in the event of a work stoppage by the union. The board has presented a fair and extremely competitive offer to the teachers that includes no changes to their robust health insurance benefits,” Bonamase said.

“Public documents filed with the State Employment Relations Board state that offer was properly characterized by the teachers’ own labor representative as ‘great.’ We agree and are proud of what we proposed,” he said in the statement.

The Lordstown Board of Education is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the high school. On the agenda is a motion to approve new three-year agreements with nonbargaining positions, including the superintendent, principals, treasurer, maintenance / transportation supervisor, director of student services, and superintendent’s and treasurer’s office staff.

The proposed contracts include a 3% raise in each of the three years.

The teachers association, Ohio Federation of Teachers-American Federation of Teachers Local 3789, has filed an unfair labor practice through Ohio’s State Employment Relations Board.

A mediator is now involved with contract negotiations.

Union representatives said negotiations began in the spring, and there have been only two meetings between the union and school administrators. The current teachers’ contract expired June 30.

The union voted down the administration’s last offer and the two sides have not been back at the bargaining table. Bonamase said the two sides are at an impasse with mediation under the auspices of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.

He said the board of education will respond to the call of the mediator and attend any scheduled mediation sessions in accordance with the agreement.

Bonamase said he hopes the board and the association can come to an agreement before school starts. He said the board’s offer was very strong and better than what most districts were offering.

Teachers union officials said in a statement “the overwhelming majority of members feel as if their voice is being ignored in the most disrespectful way. We are ready to go back to the bargaining table and find a solution to the issues at hand, but the district has not yet committed to further bargaining sessions. We look forward to hearing from them and working together to find an agreement that all parties can accept.”

The union emphasized in a statement its willingness to come back to the table for negotiations and earlier this month they and the mediator invited the board back to the bargaining table.

“We have been negotiating in good faith,” Bonamase said.

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