GENEVA, Ohio — The Geneva Area Teachers Association (GATA), which represents 145 teachers, counselors and nurses, gathered to go on strike Wednesday after negotiations failed with the district and superintendent Tuesday.
The two sides cannot agree on how the district is handling remote learning. The members of the association showed up outside the school shortly after 7 a.m.
RIGHT NOW: Geneva Area Teachers Association is on strike today after negotiations failed with the district and Superintendent yesterday. The two sides cannot agree on how the district is handing remote learning. @WEWS pic.twitter.com/j62WDBi5s7
— Meg Shaw (@MegDShaw) November 3, 2021
“This was an extremely difficult decision,” said GATA spokesperson Cheryl Ramsey, “but we need to take a stand for quality education for all of our students. During the pandemic, synchronous in school and online learning did not work for most of our students, yet our superintendent wants to continue with this option. Ironically, the program for online learning that she has refused to approve has been purchased for use during the strike.”
Ramsey said forcing teachers to do both online learning and in-person teaching hurts both the teachers and students and said that almost no district in Northeast Ohio is still doing online learning this way after a year of struggle during 2020.
Students from the high school were sent home early on Wednesday.
Geneva Area City Schools Superintendent Terri Hrina-Treharn released the following statement about the strike:
"Due to some issues that arose today at the high school, we felt it was in the best interest to send students home early and allow them to work remotely. We continue to hope for a peaceful resolution in order to get our students and teachers back in the classroom."
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