The two sides are set to return to the negotiating table at 1 p.m. The school district confirmed the meeting will take place via Twitter. “The Columbus Board of Education remains focused on getting our students and teachers back in the classroom. The federal mediator has invited both parties to continue negotiations on Wednesday, August 24. We will provide further updates as appropriate,” the district’s account said. on Twitter. The showdown is the latest in years of tensions across the nation between teachers who say they are underpaid, particularly after dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, and school systems that say they are strapped for cash. In Columbus, teachers say they want guarantees of smaller class sizes, full-time art, music and physical education teachers in elementary schools and a limit on the number of class periods throughout the school day. But at the heart of the strike is their complaint that too many schools, or sections of schools, lack heating and air conditioning, leaving students sweltering in the summer, shivering in the winter and distracted from learning. “98 DEGREES IS A BOY BAND NOT CLASSROOM TEMPERATURE,” read a sign held by a teacher outside East High School — a reference to a pop group that was briefly popular in the late 1990s. The strike began on Monday after 94% of union members voted on Sunday night to reject the board’s latest offer. If no agreement is reached late Tuesday, Columbus city schools plan to begin the year by returning to early pandemic practices, having students log in remotely for classes led by substitutes. The district plans to hand out free meals in containers. Sports and other extracurricular activities will be postponed. Union members focused their protests on more than 20 schools where they would be visible from busy streets or intersections. Passersby honked their horns in solidarity. The union — with a membership of nearly 4,500 consisting mostly of teachers, but also librarians, counselors, nurses and other school employees — had designated captains to organize each puncture site. Members protested in shifts: morning groups starting at 7 a.m. and evening groups that would stay out until 4:30 p.m. Members and supporters delivered coolers of water and bags of snacks at various locations for those standing for hours on the sidewalks on a sunny day with temperatures in the 80s. In front of East High School, a teacher blasted classic rock protest songs over a loudspeaker. The union had instructed its members not to speak to journalists and to direct questions to their representatives. Instead, teachers singled out non-union members who were free to speak. “A lot of people in the suburbs don’t know how bad the conditions are, and I think they’re finally getting it,” says Maggie Kotz, a former art teacher at East High School. Kuntz, whose twin boys will attend the district’s schools, said the teachers’ strike was “a long time coming.” He said he has heard promises to improve the buildings and install heating and air conditioning systems for years, but that those improvements have never fully materialized. That left teachers — who also complain that their pay hasn’t kept up with inflation and say they’re severely undersupplied — working in an environment that Counts described as onerous for both teachers and students. “They should be able to come to a safe place where there are no rats and roaches and warm conditions and little nurseries in 58-degree weather,” Counts said. “As an adult, if you go to work and it’s freezing or 98 degrees or you forgot your lunch, you’re not going to be a productive employee. And school is the same way,” he said. “We can’t have kids continuing to come into buildings and not have those basic needs, and we can’t expect teachers to come to work in those conditions.” Other protesters also said the board of education had for years made vague promises to improve school conditions, but had not offered enough concrete details on their plans or timelines to complete those improvements. Columbus City Schools is using hundreds of millions of dollars in federal pandemic incentives to pay for HVAC systems at 16 schools. But six of the 13 schools originally scheduled to be ready by the start of this school year still do not have working air conditioning. “It’s 100 percent about the conditions of the schools,” said Lauren Chivington, a former Columbus City Schools teacher who is now an assistant professor and doctoral student and protested with union members at East High School on Tuesday. “They haven’t gone on strike since the ’70s,” Chivington said of the union, which last went on strike in 1975. “They wouldn’t be doing this if it wasn’t very, very terrible and very much for their students.” While union members and their supporters almost unanimously pointed to school conditions as the most important reason for the strike, the two sides are also at odds over pay: Teachers had asked for 8 percent annual pay raises, while the most recent offer of the district included a 3% fee. hits every year. On Monday night, the Columbus City Schools Board of Education met behind closed doors while hundreds of teachers union members protested outside. “We want a contract, fair and just. Give our ranks central air,” they chanted. Jennifer Adair, the board of education president, issued a statement after the four-hour meeting pledging that a path forward would come “soon.” “We are working to find a collective path forward. We have yet to take action on this. But we will — soon. Our board fully recognizes the disruption and concern felt by our children and families and throughout Columbus,” Adair said in the release. “In our school community, like you, we are saddened by this start of the school year,” he said. “Please be assured that we will support your children and families with the resources they need during this time of uncertainty.”
