Newton Falls Schools

NEWTON FALLS, Ohio (AP) - A group of parents wants schools to close while teachers are on strike in a small northeast Ohio district.

The 82-member Newton Falls teachers union declared a strike on Friday. But the three schools with about 1,500 students are being kept open with around 40 substitute teachers being paid $200 a day.

A parents meeting is planned for tonight. 1 of the organizers says the group is circulating petitions asking that the schools be shut down while the teachers are on the picket lines.

Nearly 40 percent of the pupils showed up for class despite the strike.

NEWTON FALLS — Teachers in the Newton Falls Exempted Village School District say they expect to be back on the picket lines Monday.

The 82 members of the Newton Falls Classroom Teachers Association went on strike at 6 a.m. Friday after rejecting a school board offer on a new contract Thursday.

Both schools Superintendent David Wilson and John Creatura, Ohio Federation of Teachers field representative working with the Newton Falls teachers, said negotiations are being controlled by a federal mediator. They are awaiting a call from the mediator to resume negotiations, and Creatura said he doesn’t expect anything to happen before Monday.

NEWTON FALLS: Teachers in a northeast Ohio school district plan to go on strike today after negotiations broke down over a new contract.

Scott Kernen, the chief negotiator for the Newton Falls Classroom Teachers Association, said Thursday night that talks over teachers' wages failed after an 11-hour session on Wednesday.

''In the past five years, we're 5.3 percent below the cost-of-living increases,'' Kernen said. ''We just want to maintain the value of our contract.''

The district's last offer included no raises, and just a one-year contract, rather than a multi-year deal the union wanted, he said.

Well, according to another article in the Trib (attached at end of article) another threat involving a gun was made in the Newton Falls Schools.

This was last week on Thursday, and it involved a 10 year old boy. Was it an idle threat, a joke? Well, since Columbine, I don't think anyone wants to take chances anymore.

Makes me think of a favorite Johnny Cash song...

A young cowboy named Billy Joe
Grew restless on the farm
A boy filled with wanderlust
Who really meant no harm
He changed his clothes and shined his boots

Guns In SchoolAccording to a recent story in the Trib, there were rumors circulating in the school and on MySpace.com about an 8th grader threatening to take a gun to school and kill "preps".

Principal Crowder informed the NFPD and they appear to be dealing with it in a suitable fashion. This is not the first gun scare in recent years. In 2004 a 15 year olf student took a small caliber gun to school in her bookbag. She received a year in juvenile detention.