Teachers agreed to end strikes in school districts in Illinois, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Michigan, New Jersey and Ohio but the academic year remained on hold today for more than 84,000 students in five states.
An estimated 5,480 public school teachers were on strike nationwide because of contract disputes primarily involving money issues.
About 2,018 Michigan teachers and 35,011 students stayed away from classrooms.In Pennsylvania, strikes involved 2,196 teachers affecting 33,553 students. In Ohio, 421 teachers were on strike, affecting 2,350 students. In Illinois, strikes by 445 teachers kept away 8,200 students. Massachusetts had 400 teachers on strike, affecting 5,700 students.
In Clark County, Ohio, 125 teachers ended their strikes affecting 2,300 students after officials ruled the walkout illegal. But 71 teachers went on strike today in the Lordstown school district near Youngstown, Ohio, affecting 1,100 students.
Also in Ohio, 350 special education teachers were on strike at five Cleveland centers operated by the Cuyahoga County Board of Mental Retardation. That strike affected about 1,250 students.
Teachers agreed to end their strikes today in Camden County, N.J.; in the suburban Philadelphia school district of Spring Ford; in Western Pennsylvania's Hopewell and Mechanics school districts; in Lowell, Mass.; in West Ottawa, Mich. and Manistee, Mich.; and in the Blue Ridge, Ill., district.
More than 200 teachers in Spring Ford, Pa., who had been on strike for four days, returned to classrooms today to teach their 3,300 students for 30 calendar days as long as bargaining on a contract continues.
Hopewell's 150 teachers in the Pittsburgh area approved a tentative contract Sunday night, ending the nearly week-old walkout affecting 2,700 students.
The 208 teachers in Pennsylvania's Mechanicsburg School District agreed to return to work in response to what 'they saw as a sign of good faith bargaining,' said Lon Heibeck, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania State Education Association. The district has 3,300 students.
A strike by 970 teachers in Lowell, Mass, was settled last Friday. The walkout involved 13,000 students.
Representatives of the 234 striking teachers in Michigan's West Ottawa School District and the school board reached tentative agreement Sunday night, ending a strike affecting the district's 5,082 students.
A strike by 97 Manistee, Mich., teachers ended today with the return of 1,971 students following a contract settlement.
Classes resumed today in the Blue Ridge district in central Illinois. The school board Sunday night voted 7-0 to approve a three-year contract to end a walkout by most of the district's 68 teachers that began Aug. 22. A total of 945 students were affected.
In New Jersey, a strike by 100 teachers at Eastern Regional School in Camden County. which was declared illegal last week, was settled today following 12 hours of bargaining. The school enrolls about 1,450 students.
But no classes were planned for 8,200 other students in the southern Illinois school district of Granite City, where 445 teachers have been on strike since Tuesday. No talks are scheduled.
A weeklong strike by 400 teachers continued in Peabody, Mass., despite a back-to-work order by a judge.
The school district sent termination notices Friday to all 400 teachers who walked off the job Tuesday, rejecting a 17.4 percent increase in wages and benefits over three years. The union sought a 42 percent increase.
The city closed the schools affecting 5,700 students but hopes to hire enough replacement teachers to reopen them Wednesday, the city said.
A strike continued at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y..
Talks were scheduled for Tuesday in the walkout by 1,400 faculty at Wayne State University in Detroit involving 31,000 students.
