ASHLAND — The Ashland City School District Board of Educators and the Ashland City Teachers Association will enter mediation on Wednesday, Sept. 4.
On Tuesday night, the administrators’ meeting room was packed with teachers and community members eagerly awaiting any update on a labor negotiation that has reached an impasse. Jaime Parsons, Ashland community member and parent, was the first to address the subject.
“I think that in Ashland, we are incredibly blessed,” Parsons said “We have some incredible teachers; we have great support staffs.
“There just seems to be an atmosphere of animosity and distrust.”
Parsons challenged the Board of Education to build a bridge between the two entities and create a bond between them as well as take action to narrow the gap between the base pay of teachers and Superintendent Doug Marrah.
“When I look at our numbers on the state physical report cards, I see things like ‘Our superintendent is the number one paid superintendent out of 20 similar superintendents in similar-sized school districts,” Parsons said. “Right now, (our teachers) are ranked 19th out of 20th in those same schools.”
Emily Huestis, former teacher and Ashland community member, also voiced her support for the teachers.
“We have a great reputation,” Huestis said. “When we can’t come to an agreement that supports our teachers, ergo our students, that’s not the look we want bubbling around about Ashland.
“I ask (the Board) to please come back with a fresh look to the table and to engage with the teacher’s union and to find a salary that reflects the work and dedication to high quality that we have here in our town.”
Dr. James Wolfe, President of the Board of Educators, issued a quick response to the spoken parties.
“I think there was an attempt to bridge some of the gaps that have been talked about and I think that those gaps can be bridged,” Wolfe said. “I remain personally very optimistic that we’ll come up with an agreement that’s probably mutually satisfactory and (unsatisfactory) in a way that we always do.
“I think the desire to share information and move past some of the distrust exists on both sides.”
