Just last week, frustration forced CTU President David Quolke to address his members via a letter, as well as a in a closed door meeting. He also held an exclusive interview with The Call and Post on Friday.

By RHONDA CROWDER

Staff Reporter

Although the start of school is a few weeks away, the Cleveland Teacher’s Union and the Cleveland Metropolitan School District have failed to reach an agreement.

Just last week, frustration forced CTU President David Quolke to address his members via a letter, as well as a in a closed door meeting. He also held an exclusive interview with The Call and Post on Friday.

In the letter, Quolke told CTU members the union informed the district, in May, that they could not conduct a ratification vote for a new contract once school ended and if they did not reach an agreement before the end of the school year, they would not be able to ratify an agreement until after school started in August.

The letter also stated that the CTU told the district they were willing to meet every day, but the district told CTU they “were busy” and “did not have time to add additional negotiation meetings.”

As a result, the school year ended without a settlement and they have continued to meet throughout the summer. The letter went on to say, “Negotiations have proceeded very slowly” and CTU has asked that a federal mediator be brought in to help move the process forward.

According to the letter, several reasons caused the negotiations to proceed slowly, including the Board of Education’s approval to layoff 643 classroom teachers in April, human resources conducting staffing meeting with principals and chairpersons at every building in May, the Board of Education passing a budget with a $23 million surplus also in May, and the district conducting Necessary Transfers for teachers and paraprofessionals.

The letter said this is the first time the district has ever held Necessary Transfers prior to the end of the school year.

The letter even mentioned that during one of the negotiations meetings in June, the CTU asked about recalls and were told there was no decision on recalls. They were also told that the budget passed in May accounted for almost 500 teachers less than what was actually needed to staff schools at 20, 40, 40 classroom sizes, assuming CTU would pass a contract with $45 to $50 million in concessions. And if the concessions were not agreed upon, staffing could be much higher – possible 50 students per class.

During the interview with The Call and Post, Quolke said he’s tried to avoid speaking to the media, but the letter sent to Governor John Kasich from Mayor Frank G. Jackson and CMSD Eric Gordon left him with no other choice.

The Call and Post requested a copy of the letter from the mayor’s office but didn’t receive it as of press time.

“It’s safe to say education has taken the spotlight on legislation that is blaming teachers,” said Quolke. “Teachers are angry about the letter Gordon and the mayor sent to Kasich.”

Now, when it comes to teacher accountability, Quolke said, “Is there a silver bullet out there… no.” He did discuss a CTU peer review teacher accountability initiative implemented in 2007. “Teachers hold each other to a higher, more rigorous standard than principals,” he said.

Quolke also said they’ve terminated more teachers with the peer review in two years that principals have in ten years.

“This year alone, we’ve fired more teachers with continuing contracts.”

In defense of teachers, he talked about how there are both good and bad teachers with and without the seniority as well as some of the challenges they face as a result of principal based decisions. He believes there should be systems in place to help struggling teachers.

Subsequently, he thinks it’s time for Clevelanders to stop pointing fingers and pull together all stakeholders to address the issues within the district, which by the way as a good foundation to build upon, because the upcoming school openings will face major problems.

“I believe anytime you select a new leader, you have the opportunity to say ‘how are we going to move forward?’ I think we have that opportunity,” he said.

At the same time, CMSD filed an unfair labor practice charge against the CTU, this past Friday, for failure to respond to the district’s proposal and violating the parties’ agreement that bargaining should remain confidential. Adrian Thompson is representing the district.

“It’s unfortunate that the district had to take this action but it was necessary to protect the integrity of the bargaining process and also to ensure our efforts to provide the best education possible for our students,” said Roseann Canfora, CMSD deputy chief of strategic communications.

The claim against the CTU states, “CTU has consistently failed to bargain in good faith with the District regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment for Union members as required by Ohio Revised Code Section 4117.11(b)(3). The Union had repeatedly engages in bad faith surface bargaining by refusing to respond to the District’s initial proposal which was given to the Union on March 24, 2011. In fact, the Union has failed to respond to any District proposal.”

Interestingly enough, in the letter to CTU members from Quolke is a copy of an email to Quolke from Gordon, providing an explanation for the delay in contracts.

“We think the district’s charges are baseless,” said Quolke, who thinks CTU’s evidence will speak of itself. “We will respond, will go through the formal process. [But], I’m not putting a lot of stock into it.”