By Liz Oakes
The Cincinnati Enquirer

COLERAIN TOWNSHIP - More than 200 people - many of them teachers who have been working without a contract since August - attended a Northwest Local School District Board of Education meeting Monday that grew heated over a controversial student tolerance group.

The board moved its meeting from district offices to the Northwest High School auditorium to accommodate the crowd, which included 178 teachers whose contract expired Aug. 31.

The Northwest Association of Educators voted down the district's latest contract offer on Dec. 4 by a 3-1 ratio.

"The times are difficult," said outgoing Board of Education member Bill Lambert, adding he hoped the district could avoid "a back-breaking round of layoffs."

But the union said that, among other things, it was not happy to hear the possibility of layoffs even mentioned by district officials at the board meeting.

"Basically, the board is saying, 'Agree to our position or go on strike,'" said association president Phyllis Bell in a union statement on Tuesday.

The union has not taken a strike vote, Bell said, and was scheduled to return to the bargaining table with district officials today.

Dissension between union and administration of the nearly 11,000-student district comes amid a backdrop of board disagreement over a Colerain High School student group, Stand for Tolerance, and a recent court setback on the district's student code of conduct.

On Monday, a Hamilton County Common Pleas Court judge ruled that Tyler Brewer, 18, a senior and star wrestler at Colerain High School, could stay in school after being expelled by the district for involvement in an off-campus fight.

At the meeting Monday night, board member Christopher Heather said including "sexual orientation" among the diversity issues that Stand for Tolerance promotes was an issue that should have come before the board.

"I didn't even know it existed until parents came to me," Heather said, adding he thought it was an "inappropriate" topic for high school-age kids.

"We've never voted on a very controversial thing," Heather said.

But Bronston McCord, an attorney for the district who spoke at the meeting, said a board vote on a student group that did not receive district money wasn't possible, under federal law. All student groups have to be allowed equal access if a school district receives federal funding, he said.

Phil Tackett of Colerain Township, a parent of an elementary school child and who attended the meeting Monday, said he agreed with Heather.

"That this exists without the approval of the board is ridiculous," Tackett said.

Other parents Tuesday said they supported the group.

"I think it prepares them for when they go out into the world; that's an issue they're going to face, as well as ABCs and math," said Everett Johnson of Bevis, who said he has a biracial son in Colerain High School.

E-mail loakes@enquirer.com