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DPS, Teachers Union Reach Tentative Contract; A Yes Vote Will Avert Looming Strike

Dayton Public Schools

The nearly 1,100 members of the Dayton Education Association teachers union are expected to vote Thursday afternoon on a tentative contract deal. If the union approves the contract, it would put an end to months of tense negotiations with the Dayton Public Schools administration and avert a planned strike.

Negotiations ended overnight Thursday after more than 18 hours of talks, resulting in a collective bargaining agreement. Details have not yet been released.

The vote is scheduled for Thursday at the Dayton Marriott Hotel at 4:30 p.m. 

“The teachers of the Dayton Education Association have been bolstered by an unprecedented level of parental and community support, and for that we are most grateful,” David Romick, president of the Dayton Education Association, said in a statement.

“We look forward to announcing the results of the ratification vote this evening.”

The two parties have been negotiating on and off since January, eventually enlisting the help of a federal mediator.

Talks officially reached an impasse in June, prompting the mediator to suspend negotiations until late last week.

Teachers had planned to walk off the job if a deal was not reached by Friday.

Scott Maney is a Labor Relations Consultant with the Ohio Education Association. He couldn’t comment on specifics, but says the tentative agreement would help return stability to the troubled district.

“Dayton Public Schools has struggled with the ability to attract and retain career-path educators, due in large part to a non-competitive salary schedule. We definitely had to make strides in that direction,” he says.

Maney says salary increases and working conditions were central to union demands.

The Dayton Education Association represents professional educators employed by Dayton Public Schools, including teachers, counselors, media specialists and therapists. The DEA is affiliated with the Ohio Education Association and the National Education Association.

Strike or no strike, DPS officials promise school will begin as scheduled on August 15.

Jess Mador comes to WYSO from Knoxville NPR-station WUOT, where she created an interactive multimedia health storytelling project called TruckBeat, one of 15 projects around the country participating in AIR's Localore: #Finding America initiative. Before TruckBeat, Jess was an independent public radio journalist based in Minneapolis. She’s also worked as a staff reporter and producer at Minnesota Public Radio in the Twin Cities, and produced audio, video and web stories for a variety of other news outlets, including NPR News, APM, and PBS television stations. She has a Master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York. She loves making documentaries and telling stories at the intersection of journalism, digital and social media.