Class Back in Session in the Mountain State as Teacher Strike Ends

WHEELING -- Superintendents across the Northern Panhandle on Wednesday were expecting school employees to return to the classrooms today, and looking to see where two days lost to the recent strike by employees could be made up in the school calendar.

Ohio County Schools will make up for the lost days on April 17 and April 18 -- the two days prior to Good Friday and the Easter weekend, said Assistant Superintendent Rick Jones.

"Every indication is we will be back in school ... ," Jones said Wednesday.

Ohio County Education Association President Jenny Craig was hopeful the strike is over after West Virginia House of Delegate members on Wednesday did not resurrect a controversial omnibus education bill they postponed indefinitely on Tuesday. But she also has concerns about what could come in the following days on the Senate side.

"I am keeping my fingers crossed the bill will stay dead and everybody will be happy," she said. "I anticipate that will be the case."

Hancock County Superintendent Tim Woodward also believed school employees would return today after it was clear to them the omnibus education bill was officially dead.

"There is nothing keeping us out," he said. "The House is doing what they are supposed to do … . It's becoming harder from a support standpoint to justify not being in school. I hope all is done, and we're ready to roll tomorrow."

He isn't certain yet what out of school days will be used by the school district to make up for the days lost to the strike.

Marshall County Schools spokesman Tony Wood said that district will make up days at the end of the school year . Classes are not set to take place on Friday, May 24 -- the day prior to the start of the Memorial Day weekend -- and Tuesday, May 28.

Tyler County Schools Superintendent Robin Daquilante said days are built in to the school district's calendar each year to account for days lost to weather or other unforeseen circumstances. Taking days from spring break, or adding days to the end of the year likely won't be necessary, she explained.

"We've only missed five days," she said.

School officials in Brooke and Wetzel counties did not immediately return calls seeking comment Wednesday.

Meanwhile, in Charleston, representatives of the West Virginia chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, the West Virginia Education Association, and the West Virginia School Service Personnel Association held a press conference Wednesday evening after the House of Delegates adjourned for the day, announcing a return of the state's teachers to their classrooms.

"This is about the members who made the most difficult decision that you can make and that's to step out of the classroom," WVEA President Dale Lee said. "They did it for their kids. They said they weren't interested in the pay raise if it was going to hurt their kids. They put their kid's needs above their needs and their own financial gains."

The House voted 53-45 Tuesday to postpone indefinitely any action of Senate Bill 451, the education omnibus bill. The unions called for a statewide strike Monday after the actions by the state Senate to amend back into the bill a small-scale education savings account program and an increased public charter school program.

The move by the house Tuesday killed the bill, but unions were still concerned that SB 451 could have come back from the dead Wednesday. House Rule 58 allows any delegate who voted on the prevailing side of a motion the right to make a motion to reconsider the vote.

"Trust me, (teachers) will be watching closely," Lee said. "They will be watching Mitch Carmichael and the Senate very closely. This doesn't mean we can't call another action if Mitch and they want to do something stupid. What it does mean is we have some faith in this bipartisan effort."

Union leaders thanked the 53 Republicans and Democrats in the House who voted to kill the bill. They also expressed thanks to Gov. Jim Justice, who said on multiple occasions he would veto the bill if it included charter schools and education savings accounts.

"He stood behind the issues and the ideas that we did, and we want to thank him for that," said WVSSPA Executive Director Joe White.

"The governor has said repeatedly through press conferences … that his idea was to give all public employees a pay raise," added Fred Albert, president of AFT-WV. "We do applaud our governor for taking that stand over and over again."

The House Finance Committee took up HB 2730, the governor's pay raise bill for teachers, school service personnel, and state police employees. The house Wednesday evening read the bill a first time and it is slated for passage later in the week. If the bill passes, it will go to the senate.

"If Mitch and the senate want to do what the promised throughout the campaign, then they pass the clean pay bill," Lee said.

While Craig believes the measure will pass the House, school employees think the Senate may try to tack on to the wage bill many of the controversial reforms in the omnibus education bill.

"We'll sees if it makes it through without all the crazy things we've fought against," Craig said. "Mitch Carmichael said he wouldn't run the clean bill without adding in reforms from the education bill."