Superintendent's letter to families 9/10/2014
The following letter was emailed out on Sept 10.
Dear Reynoldsburg families,
I have a brief update for you today. This morning, the board of education met in order to approve a resolution directing me to keep schools open during a strike, if one happens.
We have been planning for more than a month to make that possible, and I have shared our progress along the way. Our work this week and next week includes executing our plans, now that the teachers’ union has filed a strike notice. The board took a couple of steps this morning, including the purchase of additional materials to assist substitute teachers and students during a strike.
I would like to directly address a couple of questions that were asked during this morning’s meeting. First, all substitute teachers will be selected by the same standards as all substitute teachers in the district. Substitutes will pass state and federal background checks and will be licensed by the State of Ohio. Although we are using a company to assist us with recruitment and pre-screening, Reynoldsburg administrators will make final decisions about hiring, and all substitutes will be employed directly by our school district.
Second, security personnel during a strike will be assigned to assist students, parents, staff and others who have business at our schools cross picket lines as needed with minimal inconvenience. No security personnel will be armed in any way. They will wear uniforms so that they can be easily identified by anyone needing assistance. Responsibility for safety and discipline inside our schools remains the sole responsibility of principals and school safety personnel. Responsibility for enforcing city ordinances or laws remains solely in the hands of the Reynoldsburg police. Additional help with security will be essential during a strike because we cannot allow school personnel nor police to be burdened with on-site traffic direction and crowd management. All security personnel will be subjected to state and federal background checks, like our employees.
We will continue to address new questions about strike planning on our website at: http://www.reyn.org/StrikeInformation.aspx. If you have questions that have not been addressed, please contact my office at 614-501-1020.
Sincerely,
Tina Thomas-Manning
Dear Reynoldsburg families,
I have a brief update for you today. This morning, the board of education met in order to approve a resolution directing me to keep schools open during a strike, if one happens.
We have been planning for more than a month to make that possible, and I have shared our progress along the way. Our work this week and next week includes executing our plans, now that the teachers’ union has filed a strike notice. The board took a couple of steps this morning, including the purchase of additional materials to assist substitute teachers and students during a strike.
I would like to directly address a couple of questions that were asked during this morning’s meeting. First, all substitute teachers will be selected by the same standards as all substitute teachers in the district. Substitutes will pass state and federal background checks and will be licensed by the State of Ohio. Although we are using a company to assist us with recruitment and pre-screening, Reynoldsburg administrators will make final decisions about hiring, and all substitutes will be employed directly by our school district.
Second, security personnel during a strike will be assigned to assist students, parents, staff and others who have business at our schools cross picket lines as needed with minimal inconvenience. No security personnel will be armed in any way. They will wear uniforms so that they can be easily identified by anyone needing assistance. Responsibility for safety and discipline inside our schools remains the sole responsibility of principals and school safety personnel. Responsibility for enforcing city ordinances or laws remains solely in the hands of the Reynoldsburg police. Additional help with security will be essential during a strike because we cannot allow school personnel nor police to be burdened with on-site traffic direction and crowd management. All security personnel will be subjected to state and federal background checks, like our employees.
We will continue to address new questions about strike planning on our website at: http://www.reyn.org/StrikeInformation.aspx. If you have questions that have not been addressed, please contact my office at 614-501-1020.
Sincerely,
Tina Thomas-Manning