Aug 23, 2016 2 min read

WAYNESBURG – Classes in Central Greene School District will start on time next week despite contentious contract negotiations between the board and teachers that have continued for more than a year.

Melissa Wilson, president of the teachers’ union, said the union is not yet contemplating a strike despite rumors she’s heard from the community.

“There’s been talk that we were going to do the first day of school and then strike,” she said. “I don’t know where those rumors are coming from. That would be negotiating in bad faith.

“It would be crazy to say that we were going to strike.”

Wilson said both negotiation teams met again Aug. 10 and 18. She said the union gave the school board a proposal at the Aug. 18 meeting and “they had no proposal to give back to us.”

She said the union will wait to see how the next bargaining meeting Sept. 14 will go before making a decision on whether to consider a strike or not. If the negotiations hit a wall with no progress being made, then the 12-person committee from the union will vote on whether or not to strike.

“We can’t strike when they’re still willing to meet and work with us,” Wilson said.

As for the start of school, it will be business as usual when students return next Monday, she said.

“We’re going to go in and do our jobs as teachers because that’s what we signed up with,” she said.

Superintendent Brian Uplinger could not be reached for comment.