Cleveland Teachers Union Ratifies New Contract With CMSD

Mayor Bibb, Warren Morgan (center) and CMSD student Mayar Abdelhady (right). Credit: Mark Oprea

The Cleveland Teachers Union last week voted to accept a tentative agreement with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District after the Board of Education approved the new contract last Tuesday.

It will go into effect on July 1, 2024.

“Our members saw that this was a good and fair agreement that addresses important issues,” Cleveland Teachers Union President Shari Obrenski said in a statement. “This agreement provides paid parental leave, a salary adjustment for our paraprofessionals that work with our most vulnerable students, increases safety and engagement in the classroom with a cellphone ban and will increase communications with families through a gradebook platform.”

The new contract, which includes plans to create a district-wide online gradebook to streamline academic monitoring and improve communication with parents, was passed with 70.49% of members voting in favor. It also includes a new cell phone policy that will decrease distractions in the classroom and “significant” pay raises for paraprofessionals.

“We went into these negotiations seeking a contract that respects all educators, retains the quality educators already in our district and recruits new educators to our ranks,” lead negotiator Mary Moore added in a statement. “When a contract is good for kids and fair for members, you see members voting overwhelmingly ‘yes.’”

With the new contract out of the way, CMSD still has plenty to deal with going forward. New CEO Warren Morgan and the district are still working through how to address sizable budget deficits with the possibility of a new levy hitting the ballot in the future.

In his state of the city speech, Mayor Justin Bibb telegraphed that there will likely be school closures in the coming years as well.

“We can’t continue to operate with an outdated building footprint,” he said in the speech. “Our schools were built in an era when Cleveland’s population was triple the size. We are overdue to adjust for the here and now.”

Subscribe to Cleveland Scene newsletters.