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December 4, 2020 

 

Dear CH-UH Families,

I am pleased to begin this week’s communication with great news. As you’ve likely heard by now, a tentative agreement has been reached between the Board of Education and the Cleveland Heights Teachers Union, and a strike was averted. The parties negotiated all of Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning, ultimately agreeing on important compromises for the good of our students and community.

The Union membership voted Thursday night to ratify the agreement, which covers the current school year and the next, with 94% approval. The next and final step is a vote by the Board of Education; the agreement will be presented to the Board for a vote during their meeting on Tuesday, December 8 at 8 p.m. You can watch the meeting live on our YouTube channel.

I am sure you are as relieved as I am that we can begin moving forward and that our teachers are exactly where they’re needed - with their students. I want to thank our Board and Union leadership for working so hard on an agreement. I also must thank you all, from the bottom of my heart, for staying engaged in your children’s education during all of the uncertain times we’ve faced this year. I am hopeful that this recent success is a sign of better things to come.

The teachers union and the District move forward as a united front against unfair EdChoice voucher laws and as proponents of fair school funding. The unconstitutional way in which Ohio funds its public schools, along with the EdChoice deduction, make it nearly impossible to balance budgets. 

I’ve shared in my last few letters that Ohio lawmakers have been considering House Bill 305, otherwise known as the Fair School Funding Plan. The plan proposes to overhaul the way state funding for school districts is calculated and distributed, aiming for less reliance on property taxes and helping districts provide the highest quality education possible for each child. The Ohio House approved House Bill 305 yesterday 84-8. However, it appears likely that the Ohio Senate won’t consider the bill until next year, at the earliest. 

Because we were needed here in the Heights this week, Board of Education President Jodi Sourini and I were unable to travel to Columbus to testify again in support of the bill. However, University Heights Mayor Michael Dylan Brennan testified in support at the statehouse on Wednesday. You can read his testimony here or watch the video. I sincerely thank Mayor Brennan for advocating on behalf of positive change for the families in not only his community, but all of Ohio.

This plan could bode well for CH-UH, allowing us to ask less of an already highly taxed community and ensuring that the funding we receive is based on the actual cost of educating our students. If passed as currently written, relief will be slowly phased in over the course of several years. However, as is so often the case with progressive legislation, getting it passed will be an extremely steep hill to climb. 

You can support the Fair School Funding Plan by writing to state senators (list here) using this letter as a template. Handwritten or printed, mailed letters generally have greater impact than an email, although an email is still greatly appreciated and worthwhile. Calling is effective as well; the legislators’ phone numbers are listed on their web pages, which are linked in the contact list.

The District remains in its high-alert plan for staff due to the Cuyahoga County Board of Health’s issuance of a stay-at-home advisory through December 17 (unless otherwise determined by the District). Staff members who can work from home during this time are being advised to do so. To be clear, this is not a shutdown. Our goal is to help limit the spread of the virus during this surge of COVID-19 cases in Cuyahoga County.

While students remain in a remote status until at least January 15, the end of Quarter 2, planning continues for the second semester. We will continue monitoring the case data in our area and recommendations from our state and local boards of health. The data released by the Ohio Department of Health yesterday show that Cuyahoga County remains at Level 3 (red) with high incidence and six of the seven indicators met.

Beginning Monday, we will no longer email COVID-19 case notices district-wide. We will continue to send these notices to the families whose children attend the affected schools and post the notices on chuh.org and our District app, available for Android and iPhone. This new method will allow us to comply with the state order while cutting down on unnecessary email messages to families.

Sincerely,