Teachers at Youngstown City public schools are upset the school district cancelled negotiations that were scheduled for later this week.

 

They want to know why the district has no  timeline for negotiations to begin despite knowing their contracts expire in June.

 

Over 300 people packed the Youngstown Board of Education meeting. Most of them teachers who want to know why the board cancelled the April 20th negotiations and won't set new dates to sit down at the bargaining table. 

 

The contract for 460 teachers expires June 30th.

 

 

"It surprises me because we all care about the potential for futures of our scholars. It surprises me because today is April 17th, and the representatives of the board have not guaranteed they will meet YEA at the table,' Jim Courim said.

 

The union called the boards refusal to even meet with the YEA to negotiate unprecedented, and asked the community to stand with them. 

 

Reverend Kenneth Simon agreed.

 

Simon pointed to millions in unchecked expenditures made by Justin Jennings during his time as CEO that were uncovered in a three-part 21 News Watchdog series. Those expenses included over $5 million for internet equipment as part of a plan that never came to fruition, close to $4 million spent on Covid tests at a time when the state was providing them for free and nearly half a million spent on payroll software that was not compatible with the district's system and had to be scrapped. 

 

"Since this state takeover, there has been a whole lot of unchecked, inappropriate, unaccountable financial decisions that have adversely affected the district and its students, some of which we have tried to share with the public over these past seven years. And now these have been uncovered through an investigation by one of our local media outlets.  " Simon said. 

 

"In all likelihood there will probably be a federal investigation and since this board has had control for the last year and a half questions are gong to be raised of what did you know, or why didn't you know, or what did you do about it? And what you know now about what you know," Reverend Kenneth Simon said.

 

Simon was met with a burst of applause when he mentioned the possibility of a federal investigation and again when he called on the board to call a special meeting in order to determine what course of action they should take in light of those revelations, as well as others he expects to be forthcoming. 

 

"You want to protect the children,  protect the district, and if for no other reason,  you want to protect yourselves," Simon told the board. 

 

The teachers left the board meeting in a show of solidarity.

 

Then at a separate meeting they voted overwhelmingly to authorize the union negotiating team to issue a 10 day strike notice to the board when necessary. 

 

This doesn't mean they will strike now but they could issue a 10 day notice to strike in August. 

 

"We need to get to the table. Obviously we want our students in school in the fall, and obviously we want things settled so we can get what we need for our students," YEA President Eric Teutsch said. 

 

The union says the district wishes to resolve multiple current contract grievances, but that would take months.