Melonie Hameed, president of the Northeast Ohio Education Association, leads a chant with the 200 people in attendance at the board of education meeting, while the board was in executive session for the first hour and 15 minutes of the meeting.

NILES — The Niles City Schools Board of Education passed four measures Monday night to prepare for a possible Sept. 1 teachers strike, including ending salaries and insurance benefits for any striking employees.

At one point during the meeting, police were called to restore order when many of the about 200 teachers and supporters who attended chanted and marched past the room where board members first met in closed session to prepare for an Aug. 26 negotiation with a federal mediator.

No arrests were made, and police kept protesters from going down the hallway.

After the hour-and-15-minute executive session, the board reconvened in open session to pass the four measures.

The first authorized Superintendent Ann Marie Thigpen to implement an action plan should the strike occur. This plan includes closing all district buildings unless otherwise declared by Thigpen; hiring substitutes; communicating with board members and parents; preventing employees on strike from removing any board-owned property; and allowing the superintendent and the treasurer to direct and execute all contracts.

The board also authorized Thigpen to determine whether to open classrooms during a strike. She is able to make changes to the school calendar to eliminate instructional days corresponding with the strike.

The third measure passed canceled salaries and insurance benefits of striking employees. Employees can make arrangements to continue their health insurance benefits but will have to pay a premium.

Finally, the board approved a contract with Huffmaster Crisis Response, an outsourcing substitute company, to provide security and personnel services in the case of a strike.

All four measures were passed 4-1, with board member Christopher Chieffo as the only opposing vote on all items.

Chieffo also was excluded from the closed-door session and is not on the negotiating team because his wife is a teacher in the district.

However, board member Mary Ann McMahon, a former Niles Education Association president who also is not on the negotiating team, was permitted to go into executive session with the rest of the team.

State of negotiations

Negotiators representing the school board and Niles Education Association met with a federal mediator Aug. 1 and the board canceled a planned negotiation session for Aug. 4.

The next negotiation will be Aug. 26 and if an agreement is not reached, another session will be held Aug. 31 — the same day the current NEA contract expires.If an agreement is not reached at that point, teachers say they will begin their strike Sept. 1 just after midnight.

Board President Tony Perrone said during the meeting Monday that negotiating teams reached two agreements, but both were voted down by the teachers.

“It’s important that everyone understand that our students’ education will continue. It’s our top priority,” Perrone said.

He later said, “If a strike happens, it’s up to each teacher to decide whether or not to continue working with our kids. We take this situation very seriously and are committed to finding a path forward.” This was met with heckling from the audience, which included 100 of the 151 NEA members.

The NEA passed out a flyer to the audience explaining its stance. It said Niles teachers have the second-lowest starting salary in the county, despite being the third-largest district.

In her statement to the board, NEA spokesperson Traci Kempe said Niles teachers have a starting salary that is $6,000 to $8,000 less than surrounding districts.

“We cannot allow the base salary of our teachers to continue to hover around life support for any longer,” Kempe said. “What does that say about the future of the quality of education in the City of Niles? We will never be attracting, much less keeping, quality, young teachers in the Niles School District.”

Community support

Teachers from other schools came to show support, including some from Warren and Mathews schools, and professors from Youngstown State University. Representatives from the Northeast Ohio Education Association also were in attendance.

Several Niles students came to show their support, including senior Miranda Spell. She said the students all know what is going on, and her friends support the teachers. She said she hopes her teachers know that their students are there for them, just as the teachers are always there for the students.

“This school would be nothing without our teachers,” Spell said.

Members of Niles government also came to support the teachers, including Mayor Steve Mientkiewicz and council members Doug Sollitto, Jimmy Julian and Linda Marchese.

“I believe there needs to be continued fair and faithful contract negotiations for the betterment of our students, parents, teachers and the taxpayers of our community,” Julian said.

Sollitto, who is the spokesman for the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association, said the union will rally a few thousand of its members to picket with Niles teachers if they decide to strike. OCSEA represents nearly 35,000 state and local government employees who work in various agencies and institutions, including teachers.