Cleveland mayor takes on teacher union over reform Associated Press Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Updated 11:01 a.m., Sunday, April 15, 2012 Mayor Frank Jackson, the only Ohio mayor who controls schools through an appointed board, angered fellow Democrats and the party's labor allies by challenging timeworn teacher union contracts. [...] the mayor wants to give schools Chief Executive Officer Eric Gordon a freer hand to deal with a looming $65 million deficit, close poor-performing schools, expand good ones, lengthen the school day, trim holiday time off and collaborate with charter schools. The initiatives by the low-key Jackson, a Democrat in his second four-year term, upset the teachers union and a labor community that had won a big referendum victory in Ohio last year by overturning a GOP-backed law limiting collective bargaining rights of public employees. For some, it appeared that Jackson, with the help of Republican Gov.