(Host) Striking teachers walked picket lines outside Bennington Area schools Wednesday, when a marathon negotiating session ended without agreement.
VPR’s Susan Keese reports.
(Keese) The schools of the Southwest Vermont Supervisory Union were closed because of the strike. They serve students from Bennington, North Bennington, Shaftsbury and Pownal.
But even as the strike began, negotiators returned to the negotiating table with a neutral facilitator.
Darren Allen is a spokesman for the Southwest Vermont Education Association, which represents about 270 teachers.
(Allen) "So the hope is that the boards mean it this time, so that we can end this strike and the teachers can go back where they want to go, which is… right in the classrooms."
(Keese) Teachers in the district are in their second year without a contract. They’ve been working under conditions imposed by the boards after talks reached an impasse last spring.
Both sides accused the other of refusing to compromise.
A press release issued by the Southwest Vermont Supervisory Union says negotiators for the school boards had offered compromises on salary and teachers’ contributions to health care, two of the sticking points in the negotiations.
Union negotiators say they were offering concessions, not the school boards.
Bruce Lee-Clark, who teaches at the Southwestern Vermont Career Center, says he’s prepared to wait as long as it takes.
(Lee-Clark) "I’m waiting for a contract to be presented to us that’s actually a contract, not something that they say, ‘Take this, leave it.’ Our negotiators are ready to negotiate. I want something that’s negotiated."
(Keese) Southwest Supervisory Union Superintendent Catherine McClure says the boards are ready and willing to negotiate a settlement.
For VPR News, I’m Susan Keese.