DEA president Neil Mahoney said the two sides were still working out final language though the agreement was approved on DEA’s side.
Dayton Public was the only district in the area who didn’t have a new or unexpired contract at the beginning of the school year. Teachers have been working under the terms of an expired contract since June 30 while they continued to negotiate.
DEA officials complained of planning periods being taken away, teachers being required to cover other classes, overwhelming workloads and student safety. Mahoney said at a school board meeting in October that he knew many teachers who had left DPS for those reasons.
He said teachers were feeling stressed and exhausted and feel their health is being impacted due to their working conditions.
The last contract limited class sizes and gave teachers additional money if the district needed to put more students in a class.
Depending on the grade level, classroom maximums are between 22 and 35 students, with more students in high school classes. Middle school teachers would not need to see more than 160 students in a day, and high school students would not need to see more than 170 students in a day.
If class sizes were overloaded, there would be a written explanation and a payment of $300 per student for grades K-6 and $60 per student for grades 7-12. No more than four extra students could be added to a class.
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