Day 2 of the South Butler County School District teacher strike included release of the latest date when the South Butler County School District teachers strike will end.
According to Pennsylvania State Education Association representative Brooke Witt, the state Department of Education informed the teachers that they need to return to class by April 3rd.
No negotiation sessions with the South Butler School Board have yet been scheduled between now and then. Classes within the district have been cancelled until further notice.
The two sides last met on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights before teachers began picketing on Thursday.
Several were holding signs that read “Fair Contract Now” and “We Teach, We Care, Be Fair.” The teachers are expected to be out picketing every morning until they return to the classroom.
This marks the fifth teachers strike in South Butler in the past 40 years.
The teachers had been working under terms of an expired contract for nearly four years and vowed to strike this week if no agreement was reached.
“It’s very frustrating for the teachers,” Witt said Thursday. “The district’s solicitor says that we failed to compromise. We’ve compromised on every issue.”
Witt said this is not the first strike for some of these South Butler teachers. This is the fifth strike for some.
“That’s a lot,” she said.
The major sticking points are healthcare coverage and wages.
