0412 WL Educator shows support for fellow teachers at Apr 1.jpg

Westlake teacher threaten to walk out over stalled contract negotiations.

(Beth Mlady/Special to cleveland.com)

WESTLAKE, Ohio - After months of frustrated negotiations, Westlake teachers are threatening to strike.

"This culture of fear permeates each building, seeps into each corner and is slowly killing the standards of excellence in Westlake," says a letter from Westlake Teachers Association leaders. "As teachers we desperately want the culture of excellence to return."

See letter in document viewer below.

"We are not aware of any imminent strike," said Westlake schools superintendent Geoff Palmer.

"That's a very surprising statement to me," said Loretta Tindall, a spokeswoman for the teachers association. "Teachers have been expressing their frustrations with salaries and the lack of materials at public board meetings since December."

The teachers -- who during the 2013-14 school year had the sixth highest average salary in the state at $74,000 -- have been working without a contract since the start of the 2015 school year.

The schools in this well-heeled western suburb have lost about $15 million in state funding during the last decade. And voters in May 2015 rejected the district's third tax increase request since 2013.

Last month, many teachers wore or carried signs indicating the amount of money they've given up through their prior contract, which expired June 30, 2015. Teachers took a pay cut and had to increase health care contributions and prescription co-pays in that contract.

On Friday, the board made the teachers a "Best and Final Offer" that was not well-received.

"We do not want to strike but we will," the release stated.

The teachers argue in the letter that the district has a $12 million reserve fund. They state that public school employees as well as administrators have received "significant salary increases."

Palmer noted in a statement released Monday afternoon that the final offer included "salary increases, along with some health care concessions . . . ."

Tindall described the salary increases as "illusionary. If you put $2 in one pocket and take $20 out of another pocket that's not a raise."

The teachers will discuss the district's final offer at a meeting Friday, Tindall said. They will receive a hard copy of the offer soon afterwards, she added. When the teachers receive the hard copy, they will have 48 hours to accept it.

"If they vote it down the board can return to the bargaining table," Tindall said. "Or the board can implement its final offer which forces a strike."