The Cleveland Teachers Union says teachers can work during summer school if they’re paid for a full day. The school district, though, needs them for only half a day. And the dispute may keep the district from offering summer classes for more than 2,000 elementary school pupils.
Because of budget cuts, the 77,000-student Cleveland school district wasn’t planning to offer summer classes this year. But officials added a last-minute program for students in grades 1-4 after it received $1.5 million in grant money from the state.
The district is offering $200 for about three hours of teaching and an hour of planning time. But the union, an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers, wants teachers to be paid $425 a day.
The district must come up with a plan by the end of this month or risk losing state money for the program.
