- Cameron Mitchell’s first steakhouse in 15 years to open next year The Columbus Dispatch
- Cameron Mitchell Restaurants unveils name, renderings of anticipated Downtown steakhouse 614NOW
- Cameron Mitchell shares name, new details about steakhouse at PNC Plaza – Columbus Business First The Business Journals
- Cameron Mitchell Restaurants Unveils Name for Downtown Steakhouse Columbus Underground
- Cameron Mitchell reveals name, new details about downtown steakhouse planned for Edwards Cos.’ PNC tower project NBC4 WCMH-TV
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Tag Archives: Columbus
C.J. Stroud felt ‘disrespected’ by Ohio State football after Quinn Ewers arrival – The Columbus Dispatch
- C.J. Stroud felt ‘disrespected’ by Ohio State football after Quinn Ewers arrival The Columbus Dispatch
- Texans owner says he didn’t force team to pick C.J. Stroud – ESPN ESPN
- C.J. Stroud Felt “Disrespected” When Ohio State Added Quinn Ewers Ahead of 2021, Used Addition As Motivati Eleven Warriors
- C.J. Stroud, Will Anderson Jr. Ready to Make the Texans Historic Draft Night an All-Time Coup bleachernation.com
- Ohio State Football: C.J. Stroud Says He Felt ‘Disrespected’ By Buckeyes Recruiting Quinn Ewers Athlon Sports
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Ex-Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, former Ohio GOP leader Matt Borges found guilty – The Columbus Dispatch
- Ex-Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, former Ohio GOP leader Matt Borges found guilty The Columbus Dispatch
- Householder, Borges found guilty in Ohio’s largest bribery scandal WJW FOX 8 News Cleveland
- Guilty: Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, ex-Ohio GOP chairman Matt Borges convicted in $60M bribe cleveland.com
- Prosecutors: common sense that Householder’s guilty. Defense: They’re lying News 5 Cleveland WEWS
- Jury finds former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and co-defendant Matt Borges guilty WCPO 9 Cincinnati
St. Louis’ fairytale start, Nancy-ball arrives in Columbus & more from Matchday 2 | MLSSoccer.com – MLSsoccer.com
- St. Louis’ fairytale start, Nancy-ball arrives in Columbus & more from Matchday 2 | MLSSoccer.com MLSsoccer.com
- Hochman: ‘S-T-L! S-T-L!’ A soccer win on a night St. Louis fans will never forget St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- St. Louis CITY SC fans celebrate the team’s first home game win KMOV St. Louis
- St. Louis CITY SC: “70 years of history” explode in CITYPARK debut win | MLSSoccer.com MLSsoccer.com
- MLS Commissioner Don Garber says St. Louis City SC has ‘over delivered.’ – St. Louis Business Journal The Business Journals
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Ohio State uses historic comeback to beat Indiana in Big Ten Tournament, secures place in final – The Columbus Dispatch
- Ohio State uses historic comeback to beat Indiana in Big Ten Tournament, secures place in final The Columbus Dispatch
- Ohio State Women’s Basketball Completes Largest Comeback in Big Ten Tournament History to Beat Indiana, 79-75, Eleven Warriors
- Indiana women’s basketball vs. Ohio State: Epic collapse for Hoosiers IndyStar
- Ohio State beats Indiana 79-75 in biggest comeback win in Big Ten Tournament history NBC4 WCMH-TV
- Indiana falls 79-75 to Ohio State in heartbreaking loss in Big Ten Tournament semifinal Inside the Hall
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Skull Session: Marvin Harrison Jr. Deserved the Biletnikoff, A Look at Ohio State’s Heisman Candidates Since 2018 and Columbus is a College Town
Buckeye Nation rejoiced on Thursday as Tanner Holden sank a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to down Rutgers and give Ohio State a win in its Big Ten opener.
The play went just like Chris Holtmann drew it up.
BALLGAME. pic.twitter.com/0HFfHPcKRc
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) December 9, 2022
Paul Keels called the moment as Tanner Holden called game. pic.twitter.com/nFbU3UmpzS
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) December 9, 2022
Sweet, sweet victory.
Let’s have a good Friday, shall we?
WAIT… WHAT? On Thursday night while watching the ESPN College Football Awards show, I clenched my fist, looked toward the sky – more accurately, the ceiling of my apartment – and cried out in a loud voice, “Why?”
Of course, this was in response to the announcement of Tennessee’s Jalin Hyatt as the winner of this year’s Biletnikoff Award. Indeed, according to the voters of the honor presented to college football’s best pass-catcher, Hyatt had a better and more impactful season than Marvin Harrison Jr.
I understand Hyatt had more yards, touchdowns and yards per catch than Harrison this season, but it’s not like he blew Harrison’s out of the water statistically. Take a look at their side-by-side contributions to Tennessee and Ohio State this year, including advanced metrics from Pro Football Focus:
| STATS | JALIN HYATT | MARVIN HARRISON JR. |
|---|---|---|
| SNAPS | 424 | 389 |
| ROUTES | 386 | 367 |
| TARGETS | 89 | 108 |
| REC | 67 | 72 |
| REC% | 75.3% | 66.7% |
| YDS | 1,267 | 1,157 |
| Y/REC | 18.9 | 16.1 |
| TD | 15 | 12 |
| YAC | 537 | 309 |
| YAC/REC | 8.0 | 4.3 |
| Y/ROUTE | 3.28 | 3.15 |
| ADOT | 13.6 | 14.1 |
| DROPS | 5 | 1 |
| Note: ADOT = Average depth of target | ||
Yes, the stats favor Hyatt (but again, not by much). However, what about the eye test? Perhaps I have my rose-colored glasses on (or scarlet-colored glasses?) when watching Harrison perform weekly. Still, I am pretty confident that no other receiver in college football, including Hyatt, made some of the spectacular catches Harrison hauled in during the regular season.
I mean, seriously. He has the nickname Super Marv for a reason. Nobody except Harrison was doing things like this in 2022:
Marvin Harrison Jr. defies logic.pic.twitter.com/3kTWxEcAyj
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) October 8, 2022
Marvin Harrison Jr. is unreal. pic.twitter.com/suwsFMY2Km
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) November 12, 2022
In my opinion, the Biletnikoff voters missed on this one. And I know Harrison has another year to win the award, but it feels like he should be searching for back-to-back Biletnikoffs instead of playing for his first one.
I said it the last few weeks, and I’ll repeat it today, Marvin Harrison Jr. is the best receiver in America. Period. Point blank. May he prove that once again on Dec. 31 when Ohio State plays Georgia in the Peach Bowl, and may he then earn another opportunity to prove it in the national championship nine days after that.
HEISMAN TIME. The Ohio State football media team created a graphic featuring the Buckeyes’ four Heisman Trophy finalists since 2018: Dwayne Haskins, Justin Fields, C.J. Stroud and Chase Young.
.#HE7SMAN pic.twitter.com/RItqVx0mPu
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) December 7, 2022
Isn’t it mesmerizing? Cheers to the media team for such a creation. I have no idea how long something like this takes, but I’d imagine it was pretty time-consuming.
The picture makes me remember how talented Ohio State’s rosters have been over the last five seasons and how Haskins, Fields, Stroud and Young were the most talented on their respective teams in those years. That reveals how special they all were (and are, in the case of Stroud) while wearing the scarlet and gray.
Oh, and that reminds me of something. If you visited the Eleven Warriors website on Thursday, we asked which of these players had the best season when they were individually nominated as Heisman Trophy finalists. Here is how that poll turned out:
- Justin Fields, 2019: 44% (of the vote)
- Dwayne Haskins, 2018: 26%
- Chase Young, 2019: 25%
- C.J. Stroud, 2021: 5%
- C.J. Stroud, 2022: 1%
Of course, Stroud is the only player who can still win the award and hopes to do just that this weekend. The Heisman Trophy ceremony is set to take place at 8 p.m. on Saturday in New York City and will be broadcast on ESPN.
Stroud was the favorite to win the honor for most of the season before Ohio State’s loss to Michigan. He was usurped by USC’s Caleb Williams, who is still the frontrunner heading into Saturday despite the Trojans losing to Utah in the Pac-12 Championship Game, according to most sportsbooks.
But who knows? Maybe the Heisman voters will surprise us Saturday night.
,@CJ7STROUD is a #HE7SMAN finalist for the second consecutive year! pic.twitter.com/RWhVKcY7Ss
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) December 5, 2022
COLUMBUS IS A COLLEGE TOWN. Despite Columbus hosting two major league sports franchises and a minor league baseball team, Ohio State’s capital is and always will be a college town. You know it. I know it. This city belongs to the Buckeyes.
The Columbus Blue Jackets made that much clear on Wednesday when they announced they would move the start time of their Dec. 31 game against the Chicago Blackhawks at Nationwide Arena from 7 p.m. to 1 p.m. so as not to overlap with the 8 p.m. kickoff for the Peach Bowl between Ohio State and Georgia.
From a Blue Jackets press release:
“New Year’s Eve is going to be a special day for Ohio sports fans and moving our game to the afternoon will allow our fans to not miss a minute of Blue Jackets hockey or the excitement of watching the College Football Playoffs that evening,” said Kathryn Dobbs, Blue Jackets Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer.
Yes, that’s right. The Columbus Blue Jackets, a hockey team in the NHL – a professional league representing one of the four major sports in the United States – bent to the will of the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Now, let’s be clear: the Blue Jackets are hot garbage this season, primarily because of injuries on every line and a nonexistent defense, but they’re still a professional sports team. It really should be the CBJ that has the power to do what they want, not the amateurs wearing scarlet and gray.
But that’s how it has always been in Columbus. Ohio State runs this town. And with the Buckeyes playing in the College Football Playoff, there was no option for the Blue Jackets other than to play second fiddle.
However, if you’re a fan of the Jackets, perhaps this is good news. Now you have afternoon plans on New Year’s Eve, and you will be able to see them be obliterated at 1 p.m. instead of 8 p.m. and not miss any of the Buckeyes’ matchup with the Bulldogs. I see this as a huge win!
OLYMPIC VILLAGE. Folks, Ohio State has some talented women’s teams. Like, really talented women’s teams. But we only have room to talk about two of them to wrap up this Skully.
Let’s start with women’s basketball, who beat The Fighting Ryan Days of New Hampshire, 92-36, on Thursday. If you looked at that score and thought, “Wow! That looks like a blowout!” then you would be spot on. But the final score doesn’t tell the entire story.
I mean pic.twitter.com/ygYtwIDX3b
— Jason Priestas (@priestas) December 8, 2022
Soooooooooooo, yeah. Ohio State was only up 39-29 at halftime but outscored the (and this is their real nickname) Wildcats 53-7 in the second half, including a 30-4 run in the third and a 23-3 run in the fourth, to win by 56 points. Cotie McMahon led the team with 20 points, followed by Taylor Mikesell with 19 and Taylor Theirry with 14. Defensively, the Buckeyes forced 27 turnovers and blocked four shots.
I’d say that makes it a good day for the women’s basketball team.
All smiles today!!
Buckeyes improve to 9-0#GoBucks pic.twitter.com/siLVGA9APZ
— Ohio State WBB (@OhioStateWBB) December 8, 2022
Let’s move on to the women’s volleyball team. Man oh man, Emily Londot was an unstoppable force, collecting a career-high 29 kills on Thursday.
Don’t mess with Emily Londot @OhioStateWVB#NCAAWVB x @espnWpic.twitter.com/yhGBMNnVPv
— NCAA Women’s Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) December 8, 2022
Londot’s performance, along with those of Mac Podraza, Rylee Rader, Kylie Murr and Jenaisya Moore, pushed Ohio State past Minnesota and into the Elite Eight for the first time since 2004.
Ohio State earns its spot in the regional finals with a four-set win against Minnesota!#GoBucks #Team53 pic.twitter.com/gaP3c9QFsx
— Ohio State Women’s Volleyball (@OhioStateWVB) December 8, 2022
Those players were making it incredibly hard to finalize the match recap yesterday afternoon as they kept racking up more and more statistics at the end of the final set. But it’s a good thing they did because Ohio State needed every point they could to defeat the boogeyman that was the Sweet 16 for the program.
Cheers to Coach Jen Flynn Oldenburg for what she has done in her three seasons with the programs. Let’s cap this year off with a natty, Volleybucks.
SONG OF THE DAY. “I Feel Good” by James Brown.
CUT TO THE CHASE. Columbus sober bar Dry Mill to shut down… LeBron James congratulates Glenville football team on its state championship… Officials grant California girl’s request to keep unicorn… Meet college football’s first $1 million strength coach… The Year of the Slap: Pop culture moments in 2022.
Donovan Lewis: Body camera video shows a Columbus, Ohio, police officer fatally shooting an unarmed 20-year-old Black man
Donovan Lewis, 20, died Tuesday after being shot by Columbus Police Officer Ricky Anderson, a 30-year veteran with the Columbus Division of Police assigned to the K9 Unit, according to a police statement.
The shooting is under investigation by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and Anderson is currently on leave, Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant said at a news conference Tuesday. CNN has attempted to reach Anderson for comment and also reached out to the Fraternal Order of Police.
The shooting happened around 2 a.m. Tuesday at an apartment building where uniformed officers were serving a felony warrant for domestic violence and assault and improper handling of a firearm, Bryant said at the news conference. A news release by police indicated the male who was shot, later identified as Lewis, as the person sought in the felony warrant.
“The officers knocked on the door for several minutes … acknowledging themselves as Columbus Police officers,” Bryant said.
Police body camera video shows them knocking and calling out to occupants repeatedly for more than eight minutes. They called for “Donovan” by name several times.
Eventually, a man came to the door and was taken into custody by police, Bryant said. He told officers he’d been asleep, and they took a knife from his pocket. A second man inside the apartment was taken into custody about a minute later.
Officers asked if anyone else was inside the apartment, Bryant said, but were unable to determine that.
Anderson and a K9 were then called in by Columbus Police to see if anyone else was inside, Bryant said.
“Once the K9 officer arrived on the scene, additional announcements were made for anyone else inside to come out or the K9 was going to be released inside of the apartment,” Bryant said.
In the police body camera video, the K9 is seen barking outside a back bedroom door, then officers enter the apartment and warn they are going to send a dog in.
An officer is seen opening the bedroom door, where a man is seen on a bed.
Bodycam video shows Anderson firing a single shot at a man, later identified as Lewis, moments after opening the bedroom door.
During the news conference, Bryant showed the body camera video frame-by-frame, asserting that the moment Anderson opened fire, it appeared Lewis was holding “something” in his hand.
A vape pen was later found next to Lewis on the bed, Bryant says. Once Lewis was handcuffed, video shows, officers began rendering aid.
Lewis was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:19 a.m., according to the Columbus Police statement.
Shooting is latest law enforcement
An attorney for Lewis’ family condemned the shooting in a statement to CNN affiliate WSYX, calling the officer’s behavior reckless.
“The bodycam footage released yesterday afternoon says it all,” the statement said. “In literally the blink of an eye, a Columbus police officer shot and killed Donovan Lewis, an unarmed young Black man who was alone in his bed in the middle of the night.”
“As a result of this entirely reckless behavior by a Columbus Police Officer, a family is left to grieve the loss of such a young soul.”
The incident was just the latest in a string of deadly and controversial law enforcement shootings involving the city’s Black residents in recent years that have prompted protests over racial injustice and a review by the US Department of Justice into the Columbus Division of Police.
A Franklin County Sheriff’s Office deputy fatally shot Casey Goodson Jr. in December 2020 as the 23-year-old tried to enter his home with a Subway sandwich. The deputy was working for the US Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force looking for violent offenders at the time, police said, but Goodson was not the individual being sought. A grand jury indicted the deputy on two counts of murder and one count of reckless homicide.
Later that month, a Columbus police officer fatally shot Andre Hill as officers responded to a report of a man who was sitting in his SUV for an extended period. The officer in that case was fired and charged with murder, and the city council later voted to approve a $10 million settlement to Hill’s family, the largest in the city’s history.
Ma’Khia Bryant, 16, was killed in another shooting last April when Columbus police responded to her foster home, where Ma’Khia had been arguing with another young woman over a messy home and unmade bed. Police body camera video showed Ma’Khia lunge at the other woman with a knife, and a grand jury later declined to indict the officer who fired the fatal shot.
Bryant, the police chief, said Tuesday officers are “put in compromising, potentially life-threatening situations” every day, “in which we are required to make split-second decisions.”
“As the chief, it is my job to hold my officers accountable, but it’s also my job to offer them support and make sure that I give that to them through the process,” Bryant said. “If they do the right things for the right reasons, we will support them. If they do something wrong, they will be held accountable.”
Columbus, Ohio, police shoot Black man in bed, release body-cam video
“At this time it is critical that the video of last night’s shooting and all available facts are shared for the sake of complete transparency,” Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin said in a tweet that included the video and linked to a local news article about the incident. The state Bureau of Criminal Investigation is conducting an independent probe, he said, and could refer evidence to a grand jury.
The Columbus police, mayor’s office and state attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“Donovan Lewis lost his life. As a parent, you know, I sympathize, and I grieve with his mother,” Police Chief Elaine Bryant said at the news conference. “I grieve with our community, but we’re going to allow this investigation to take place.”
In the video, officers knock on the apartment door multiple times and identify themselves before two men come out and are handcuffed. Police then stand at the doorway with guns pointed and loudly announce that they will send in a dog.
“Columbus police. If you are inside, make yourself known,” one officer says. Off camera, a man can be heard saying “they are sleeping.” The officer repeats, “Come on out. Come out now.”
One officer then follows a police dog to Lewis’s room and opens the door. Immediately after a light illuminates Lewis propping himself on his mattress, the officer shoots. As Lewis writhes and moans in the bed, he is told to “crawl” out of the room and to stop resisting arrest. He was handcuffed on the bed and died in a hospital shortly after.
“Police shot and killed Donovan Lewis while he was in one of the most vulnerable places a person can be — bed. As the investigation unfolds, some may point to the fact that the police were attempting to execute a warrant when they shot Mr. Lewis, as if to suggest that an alleged offense warrants immediate execution,” Kelly Sampson, director of racial justice at the anti-gun-violence organization Brady, said in a statement.
The killing is the latest example of unarmed Black Americans being shot by police. Black Americans are 2.5 times more likely to be killed by police than White Americans, according to a 2019 study by Northwestern University. Numbers are even starker in Ohio, where Black people are 4.5 times more likely to be killed by police than White people.
In December 2020, Andre Hill, a 47-year-old unarmed Black man was shot four times by a Columbus police officer while leaving a friend’s house. His family received a $10 million settlement from the city. Last year, an officer fatally shot Ma’Khia Bryant, a Black 16-year-0ld, outside her home. The officer was cleared of criminal wrongdoing after an investigation.
Lewis’s killing was the third police shooting in the city in the past week, according to the Columbus Urban League. The organization called for a community forum on Saturday to discuss the incident.
“Yesterday’s shooting evokes painful, conflicting responses. We understand that serving a felony warrant creates a highly volatile and dangerous situation. And yet, the body camera video is as gut-wrenching as is the fact that another Black man lost his life,” Stephanie Hightower, the group’s president, said in a statement. “No matter the ultimate conclusion, our community deserves an independent, thorough and transparent investigation by all appropriate entities.”
Columbus strike: Teachers at Ohio’s largest school district vote to strike just before start of school year
The Columbus Education Association union — which represents over 4,000 teachers, nurses and other education professionals at the Columbus City Schools district — said it will be its first strike in decades.
“94% of Columbus Education Association (CEA) members voted to reject the (school) Board’s last, best and final offer and go on strike for the first time since 1975,” the union said in a statement on Twitter. “CEA is committed to bargaining for the safe and welcoming, properly maintained, and fully-resourced public schools Columbus students deserve.”
The union said the disagreement is over learning conditions, including class sizes and functional heating and air conditioning in classrooms, according to Columbus Education Association’s notice of intent to strike.
“Tonight’s vote by the Columbus Education Association (CEA) is incredibly disappointing. We are saddened by the unfortunate situation our families, our community and, most importantly, our children now face,” a statement from the board said.
Columbus City Schools serves 47,000 students, according to the district.
Despite the strike, the school year is still scheduled to begin Wednesday, but classes will be online and led by substitutes, according to school district’s website.
The district says its own administrators may also teach online classes while the strike continues. But since teachers make up most of the district’s coaching staff, sports activities may be rescheduled or canceled, according to the website.
The strike at Columbus City Schools isn’t the only one happening this week.
Just a day before the vote in Ohio, a union representing about 2,000 School District of Philadelphia employees voted to authorize a strike — just over one week before school is set to start.
The union in Philadelphia, 32BJ SEIU, is asking for higher wages and adequate training programs.
CEA union to vote Sunday night on whether Columbus teachers strike
The Columbus Education Association has announced that more than 94% of members have voted to reject the Columbus City school board’s last final offer and go on strike for the first time since 1975.
The official confirmation came after CEA members could be seen leaving the meeting at the Greater Columbus Convention Center carrying picket signs available inside that say “On Strike” or contain similar language.
The nearly 4,500-member union — which represents teachers, librarians, nurses, counselors, psychologists and other education professionals — met for more than three hours at the convention center to vote.
Previous coverage on CEA vote:
The Columbus Education Association members are inside the Greater Columbus Convention Center to vote on whether to initiate a strike against Columbus City Schools.
The doors shut shortly after 7 p.m. with the nearly 4,500-member union, which represents teachers, librarians, nurses, counselors, psychologists and other education professionals, inside.
The vote would take several hours, the CEA says, and the outcome likely won’t be known until early Monday morning.
If a strike is approved, union members would begin picketing later Monday morning outside the schools where they would normally report for work for teacher preparation days.
The first day of school for Columbus City school students is Wednesday. (Woodcrest Elementary School, the district’s only year-round school, returned to classes July 27.)
Columbus schoolsWhere can Columbus City Schools students get their meals if there is a teachers strike?
Failed negotiation between schools and Columbus Education Association
The Columbus City Schools Board of Education requested two negotiation sessions last week, but both sessions between the board and the union with federal mediator ended with no agreement.
Thursday’s session, the 22nd negotiating session, lasted 12 hours and the board gave another final offer that would hire 25 additional the full-time school nurses, behavioral specialists, school psychologists, and speech language pathologists in fiscal years 2024 and 2025; give teachers an additional planning day in 2024 and 2025; and would commit to having CEA “at the table to address equity-based staffing.”
Earlier in negotiations, CEA was asking for an 8% increase at each step of the salary scale for 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25, according to a copy of the unfair labor practice charge the school board filed against the union on Aug. 3 and obtained by The Dispatch.
Negotiations between the CEA and BoardWhat’s the disconnect in contract talks between Columbus City Schools and teachers union?
The school board reported its initial counteroffer on May 23 was a 2.5% increase at each step of the salary for 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25, according to the complaint.
The board reported that its “final offer” at the time of the complaint was a 3% increase at each step of the salary for 2022-23 and a $2,000 retention bonus to be paid out over the next two years, according to the complaint.
The board’s final offer Thursday still included the 3% salary increase.
“By the end of this three-year contract, a teacher who last school year was paid the district’s average salary of $74,000 will be earning more than $91,000 – a 23% increase from the start of the contract,” said Board President Jennifer Adair.
Starting teachers would also earn more than $50,000 in the first year of the contract, according to the district.
The final offer also would give teachers a day dedicated to planning, with students not in schools, for each of the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years, according to the district.
Columbus Education Association teacher union begins its vote
The Columbus Education Association members filed inside the Greater Columbus Convention Center to vote on whether to initiate a strike against Columbus City Schools, on Sunday, Aug. 21.
Courtney Hergesheimer, The Columbus Dispatch
What is the Columbus Education Association union asking for?
In addition to functioning heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in schools, the CEA previously was asking for smaller class sizes; full-time art, music and physical education teachers; more planning time for teachers; a cap on the number of class periods in the day; and “other working conditions that recruit and retain the best educators for out students.”
Earlier this month, CEA filed its required formal notice to the State Employment Relations Board of its intention to strike and picket if a new contract is not reached.
The district has responded to the issue about HVAC systems by saying it is updating the HVAC systems in 13 school buildings this summer using $35.6 million in federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Funds created due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
While work to update the HVAC systems will be completed at seven of those buildings in time for the scheduled start of classes, work at six other buildings won’t be completed until September.
In addition, two other buildings — Columbus Alternative High School and Hubbard Elementary School — will have to wait until the start of the 2023-2024 school year to get building-wide air conditioning.
Mifflin Middle School is another school without building-wide air conditioning. But because a new middle school may be built on the site of Mifflin Middle School, according to the district’s proposed facilities master plan, Columbus City Schools does not appear ready to invest in a new building-wide HVAC upgrade of the existing building.
How would a Columbus teacher strike affect the first day of school?
If the union membership votes to strike and remains on the picket line Wednesday, the state’s largest district with nearly 47,000 students plans to start the school year remotely — a move which has drawn criticism from some Columbus City Schools parents concerned that many students did not do well working remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown.
The district said it will move to “synchronous and asynchronous remote learning” and the district’s buildings will be closed to students and community members, according to information on a district webpage. However, 25 school sites will offer free lunch and breakfast meals to students in grab-and-go containers.
“The District Administration will send parents and students correspondence regarding the procedures to begin the remote learning program before the first day of school,” according to the district.
Students would be required to attend school through remote learning if there is a strike on the first scheduled day of classes.
Columbus City Schools has 600 substitutes who would be given the curriculum to teach remotely, said Columbus City Schools spokeswoman Jacqueline Bryant.
The last time Columbus City Schools went on strike was 1975.
Teacher strikes are a tool that is used as a last resort, said Ohio Federation of Teachers President Melissa Cropper.
“A strike allows us to bring together the collective voices to say that these issues are highly critical to us and to our students and to the community that we live in, and we are willing to take these steps to make sure that the issues that we bring up are being addressed,” she said.
COVID-19 has given people a different expectation of what teaching and learning conditions can look like, she said.
“If I can learn in my air conditioned house in front of my computer instead of going to an overcrowded classroom that doesn’t have proper ventilation or heating or cooling, how can you tell me you value education and send me to a place like that?” Cropper said.
Other Greater Columbus School districts that have recently had strikes
Gahanna-Jefferson Schools went on strike for four days in 2020, the most-recent district in Greater Columbus to strike.
The contract that ended the strike gave the teachers a 2.25% base pay raise, and the controversial classroom cameras cited as one reason for the work stoppage were still used, though less frequently than first discussed.
Teachers in Reynoldsburg Schools went on strike for 21 days in 2014. The strike ended with a new contract, but it did not include caps on class sizes. Written into the contract instead was the sentence, “Parties agree to inspirational goals of 25 students per class in grades K-4 and 32 students per class in grades 5-8 and 35 in grades 9-12.
The board’s initial proposal eliminated step increases and scheduled pay raises, basing compensation on teacher performance in the classroom, student scores on state tests and ratings under the Ohio’s new teacher evaluation system. It also eliminated group health insurance in favor of cash payments to buy policies through the new Affordable Care Act.
The REA balked at the terms of the contract, rejecting merit-based compensation and asking for firm caps on class sizes and more planning time. The union also filed an unfair labor practices complaint against the district, claiming details of the proposed contract should not have been published online.
mhenry@dispatch.com
@megankhenry