FOSTORIA, Ohio — Only five more days remain of summer break fro the Fostoria School District, but they could soon be without their entire teaching force.
At Wednesday night's general membership meeting of the Fostoria Education Association, educators voted unanimously to approve a 10-day strike notice to the Fostoria Board of Education.
According to a press release from the Ohio Education Association that was sent out Thursday morning, the district and the FEA have been in contract negotiations since May.
The ongoing process even involved third party mediators from Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services.
The press release also said the last contract officially expired on June 30 of this year, and as of right now there is no new bargaining dates scheduled.
The FEA represents 142 certified classroom teachers, guidance counselors, librarians and other education professionals.
Outside of the school administration offices, parents who were dropping by to pick up school paperwork Thursday, had no idea the teachers would be threatening to strike, and hope the 10-day notice is enough to get the ball rolling and solve this contract issue soon.
"I had no idea at all, the kids are actually really excited about going to school and there's been no notification at all that the teachers aren't happy. Yeah, I hope they get it settled before the kids get involved for sure, and if they can start their year off right, definitely," said Tricia Raymor, a parent of a Fostoria 5th and 6th grader.
Just before 4:30 p.m., WTOL received a statement from Fostoria superintendent Andrew Sprang saying the board of education had not yet received the official 10-day strike notice.
The district has met in good faith with the FEA four times since May.
Superintendent Sprang then said in the release, "It is our intent to continue working with the FEA to continue moving our district forward"
The 2019 - 2020 Fostoria school year begins on September 3rd.