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Riverside Teachers Plan to Strike Monday

TAYLOR — Teachers in the Riverside School District in Lackawanna County gave notice Thursday that they will be going on strike come Monday. The strike not...

TAYLOR -- Teachers in the Riverside School District in Lackawanna County gave notice Thursday that they will be going on strike come Monday.

The strike notice comes about a month after teachers announced their intention to walkout.

Riverside's teachers' union actually set this strike date on Super Bowl Sunday. Union officials told Newswatch 16 they gave the district that time to gather information and to negotiate.

A negotiation session Wednesday night didn't go well. So, the teachers announced Thursday that they will strike Monday.

Teachers in the Riverside School District postponed a strike at the beginning of the month. Officials said they hoped the four week break would bring clarity and a contract. Teachers in the district that covers Taylor and Moosic have been working without one since 2013.

But, the month only delayed the inevitable.

Union officials said they asked administrators to come to the table with new information. Both sides say negotiations did not improve.

"Basically, the Riverside Education Association asked the district to go back and get numbers from the proposals from last time, and when we went back and got the numbers, the numbers were quite alarming. They met last night in negotiations and it didn`t go very well. So, all indicators are saying that the teachers will be on strike on Monday," said Riverside Superintendent Paul Brennan.

Brennan said the biggest hang up in negotiations is teacher salaries. Riverside teachers are the third highest paid in Lackawanna County.

Some parents think they should be paid more.

"They do hard work, they do wonderful work, but the kids suffer by having to, you know, lose out on activities and they suffer because at the end of the school year they have to go longer," said parent Ann McDonald.

There is a state limit to how late into June students can be in school. Brennan said since the rough winter has already affected the school schedule, the teachers don't have too many available days to strike.

"In my calculations I don`t think they`re going to have a long time at all to strike. However, any strike right now is not a good thing for the students or for staff as well," Brennan added.

The State Department of Education will determine how long Riverside's strike can last on Monday. The teachers' union said only one negotiating session was scheduled over the past month. But, union officials said, if the district comes to the table, they will negotiate during the strike.

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