The Lordstown Teachers Association (LTA) has issued a 10-day strike notice to the Lordstown Board of Education with a strike set to begin on Thursday, August 29.

However, according to a press release from the Board of Education,  the district will remain open and fully operational even during a strike.

A comprehensive plan is in place to provide a safe, secure and fully-compliant educational environment for students upon their return to school September 3.

In the release, the Board says it's disappointed that the union has decided to strike stating that it had offered the teachers an above-average wage increase of 3% in each of three years and no changes to their health insurance benefits despite significant cost increases.

"Our offer, which was characterized by the union's own labor relations consultant as 'great' maintains our teachers in a competitive position in our area, particularly when combined with the robust health insurance benefits," the Board said in the release.

The Board is scheduling a meeting to provide specific direction to terminate teachers' pay and health insurance benefits effective the first day of the strike and authorizing Superintendent to take all necessary steps to continue normal operations during the strike.

That meeting is scheduled to take place Thursday, August 22.

21 News has reached out to the LTA for a response and received the following statement from teacher Randy Fee:

"Our goal is to settle a fair contract in time for the beginning of classes on Tuesday, September 3rd. For months, we have been asking the district to meet with us to continue bargaining. They said 'no' to bargaining through all of April, May, June, and July, and most of August. We lost more than 4 months of potential bargaining time because our district refused to meet with us to bargain."

Fee goes on to say there is still a gap between what the board is offering and the minimum that the union will accept.

"It is a gap that the district can easily close, due to a multi-million dollar budget surplus that is projected to keep increasing throughout our five year forecast. Although we are disappointed that some misinformation is being spread by our district leaders, we have continued our attempts to talk, and have reduced our offer significantly," Fee said.

Fee says the board is now repackaging their offer to appear different, when in reality it still carries the same value.

Fee acknowledges that the 3% per year increase is "above average" in comparison with previous offers, but says it is still at the bottom of what districts in Trumbull County negotiated in 2023 and 2024 and that Lordstown's salary increase has been below the state average for teachers in 14 out of the last 15 years.

"The misinformation being spread, the disrespect in not meeting with us over most of the summer, and the lack of movement with negotiating a deal has left our teachers feeling confused and unappreciated. It's really a shame. We want to be in our classrooms teaching our students on September 3rd," Fee said.