Cleveland’s plan to consolidate schools is influencing the race for the leadership of the 4,300-member Cleveland Teachers Union.
Many teachers believe the district lacks a clear plan for changes that will shuffle hundreds of staff to new buildings while asking them to teach new programs. Teachers, paraprofessionals, instructional aids and other school staff will head to the ballot box on March 9 to choose whether they want the incumbent president or a challenger to lead them through the upheaval.
The challenger, school librarian Errol Savage, is pitching his brand of “proactive” leadership to teachers unhappy with the transition. Three-term CTU President Shari Obrenski, who steered the union through the pandemic-era learning, is arguing her experience is essential as the union prepares to renegotiate its contract next year.
Teacher’s union elections don’t usually make headlines in Cleveland. But this time around, Savage has been publicly campaigning on social media. He even put together a home made campaign ad: an 18-minute youtube video, complete with his cell-phone number on screen.
Ahead of the vote, Signal Cleveland spoke with both candidates.
Savage is leaning on the ire kicked up by the closures. Had he been in charge, the union would have forced the district to involve teachers earlier in the process, he said.
“If they did not involve you, it either means they have no respect for you and the position you hold, or they don’t feel you have any relevance,” he said.
He told Signal Cleveland he would have worked earlier to rally public support for teachers before the closure plan was announced and that he believes Obrenski needs to show up more in the community.
Obrenski has filed a demand to bargain with the district over how the plan will be implemented. She has been highly critical of the district’s plan in the media, noting “it’s been a lot of smoke and mirrors.”
She noted that while Savage is running as an outsider, he has been on the union’s executive board for two years — plenty of time to shape strategy around the closures. The closures, she said, were so politically fraught that the district was likely to keep its plans close to the vest no matter what.
“I think the criticism is unfair,” she said. “I think it’s disingenuous, and I think in some respects it’s naive.”
