The strike means the first day of the new school year for Columbus City Schools, Ohio’s largest school district, has gone online, while 4,500 teachers, librarians, counselors, and other school workers are on strike. , Wednesday an alternate led a virtual class. .
Columbus teachers wanted an 8% annual pay increase, better heating and air conditioning in aging buildings, smaller classes, and full-time primary arts, music, and physical education teachers.
New agreement includes guaranteed climate control for all student study areas by the start of the 2025-2026 school year, reduced class sizes at all grade levels, a paid parental leave program for teachers and increased teacher salaries contains provisions to The next three years of his life, Fuentes said.
The district had previously offered a 3% wage increase but rejected guaranteed air conditioning — an issue that was at the heart of the strike, according to the union.
Thousands of people lined up in picket lines last week, many of them holding signs about temperature problems at schools. “98 degrees isn’t the temperature in the classroom, it’s the boy band,” read a sign held up by a teacher outside Higashi High School.
After nearly 14 hours of negotiations and an agreement early Thursday morning, teachers spent Thursday and Friday planning preparations for the return of classes on Monday.
“We are excited to return to our home, the classroom, to do what we do best: to educate our students and shape the future of our great city,” said Fuentes. rice field.
Fuentes added that workers across the country were “fed up with the status quo” and said he hoped the union’s work would inspire people across the country to solve their public education problems.
“They need to invest more in our students because they are the most important investment for this entire country,” Fuentes said. Hopefully the community will see the power they have and actually get more involved.”
Officials at Columbus City School, which serves 47,000 students, said the new arrangement puts children first.
CNN’s Nouran Salahieh contributed to this report.
