This story was updated on April 8.
The standoff between educators and district leadership in Sheridan District 2 is escalating, with both sides now publicly disputing what led to a breakdown in communication between the two parties and the ongoing strike.
In an open letter addressed to school board members on Tuesday, the Sheridan Educators Association (SEA) Bargaining Team called for the board to schedule a special board meeting to reopen negotiations by April 9. The letter says if the board does not come back to the table, the team "will be beginning recall procedures against each board member."
In a statement sent to media outlets Tuesday afternoon, the district’s board of education said it is “committed to providing our district community with factual information.”
However, responses to media requests since the strike began have been limited.
In its statement on Tuesday, the board said the SEA allowed its previous collective bargaining agreement to expire and that its members failed to attend discussions about the contract in the fall, leading to mediator cancellation fees.
It also says that on the second day of the strike it offered seven dates for additional collaborative dialogue on a new agreement and that the only date confirmed by the SEA was April 4.
District officials also pointed to a planned increase in starting teacher salaries to $60,000 beginning in the 2026–27 school year.
Overall, the district maintains it has continued to engage in the process and is focused on reaching a new agreement while remaining centered on students.
“Since the Sheridan Education Association allowed the previous collective bargaining agreement to expire, the district has continued to provide every teacher with an individual contract,” the district said in its statement.
But the union quickly pushed back Tuesday, accusing the board of presenting “selective facts and incomplete statements” and deflecting from the core issues that led educators to walk out.
“Educators have worked all year without a contract while the district delayed real progress, changed long-standing practices, and created instability across our schools,” the Sheridan Educators Association said in a statement. “Let’s be clear: this strike is not about better pay. It is about the district’s actions during this school year: forcing educators to work without a contract, changing long-standing bargaining practices, retaliating against educators for speaking up, and ignoring larger concerns.”
Educators have been working without a union contract since August. They say the board is who allowed it to lapse. They also argue that during the agreed upon Saturday negotiations, only the superintendent, not the board, attended the meeting.
The district says its negotiating team does not include the full board of education, but that district leadership participates in bargaining and any tentative agreement is later presented to the board for review and approval.
The union is calling on the district to reinstate the previous contract, recognize classified staff and their right to representation, and reverse what it describes as anti-union actions.
The two sides now offer sharply different accounts of what led to the current state of things, with the district emphasizing missed meetings and ongoing outreach, and educators pointing to concerns over trust, bargaining practices and alleged retaliation.
No new bargaining sessions have been publicly confirmed and it remains unclear when negotiations will resume with neither side indicating a path forward.
As the strike continues, both sides say their focus remains on students — though classrooms across the district remain disrupted.
