Nov 20, 2017 3 min read

Classes resume Tuesday in Ringgold School District as striking teachers return to work without a new contract after talks broke down again Monday afternoon.

The 210 members of Ringgold Education Association will follow a state mandate to return to their classrooms after a 22-day strike to ensure students receive the required amount of education by June 15.

“We are disappointed,” REA President Maria Degnan said during a heated school board meeting Monday.

The school board met under added security at the high school after the district received separate threats of violence over the strike. The school district’s police department stood guard at the building’s entrance, where the hundreds of people who attended the meeting were screened by metal detectors.

A threatening letter was received two weeks ago at the administration building, the contents of which were not disclosed. A Union Township man was arrested last month on accusations he threatened the teachers with gunfire on comments he posted on his Facebook page.

Degnan said the union was disappointed there have only been nine bargaining sessions since the teachers gave a strike notice Oct. 13. Salary is the main stumbling block as the union claims the district wants to make them work longer to reach the top salary.

The union rejected a fact-finder’s recommendation that would have taken their salaries from between $36,000 and $78,508 a year last term to between $41,439 and $83,947 a year by the end of the contract.

The teachers return to work under nonbinding arbitration. A second strike can be called this term if either side rejects the arbitor’s recommendations for a new 5-year contract, Degnan said.

She said the state Department of Education would then determine the length of a second strike that would draw the school calendar out to June 30.

Board President William Stein Jr. said it was the board’s desire to reach a settlement with the union.

“We hope to settle this as soon as possible,” Stein said.

The board raced through its agenda before opening the lecturn to public comment. Twenty-six people spoke and all of them offered support for the teachers.

Teacher Angela Walsh pleaded during public comment for the board to give the teachers a contract they deserve in a district with high teacher turnover because wages are better at other districts.

“My heart is hurting as we experience this situation,” Walsh said.

Among the items the board approved was the hiring of Weiss, Burkhardt and Kramer of Pittsburgh as special counsel during the arbitration process at a cost of $160 an hour.