Oct 27, 2002 By April Straughters 2 min read

Classes in the Brownsville Area School District could soon be back in session if teachers and the school board ratify a tentative contract Monday. Director Stella Broadwater, chief negotiator for the district, said she is optimistic the proposed agreement will receive the five of nine votes from the school board required for ratification.

“It’s a fantastic proposal, one they surely can’t refuse,” Broadwater said.

Broadwater said the board will vote on the proposed agreement at 7 p.m. Monday.

The Brownsville Education Association’s (BEA) negotiation team presented the proposed contract to teachers at an informational meeting Friday afternoon. Teachers will vote on the proposal at 9 a.m. Monday, according to spokesperson Diana Michael. Michael said the BEA negotiation team is also optimistic.

She said school could be back in session by Tuesday provided both groups agree to the proposal. If one of the groups fail to approve the tentative contract the strike will continue.

The agreement is the result of three separate meetings at the bargaining table between the BEA negotiation team and the board of directors.

Solicitor Matt Hoffman, who had initially been handling negotiations on behalf of the district, said teachers had voted down two separate tentative agreements before striking.

Monday will begin the third week the district’s 147 teachers and 2,200 students have been out of the classrooms. The district’s teachers have worked without a contract for more than a year. The BEA called a strike last week after negotiations that began in January 2001 failed to produce a contract. The main sticking points in the talks are health care, salaries and early-retirement incentives.

Teachers have said they are the lowest paid teachers in the county. While the school board has said they are committed to attaining a contract settlement that is financially responsible and will not forego that responsibility for the sake of expediency.

Negotiations were slow at the onset of the strike. But after a regular board meeting, which resulted in the BEA and the board of directors agreeing to negotiate one on one, instead of through Hoffman, BEA officials said the communication lines were opened and they have remained optimistic in the negotiations ever since.

State law regulates and limits the number of days teachers can strike to ensure that students receive the scheduled 180 days of instruction before June 15.