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Hollidaysburg Area School District officials and union representatives will go back to the table Tuesday as contact negotiations have yet to yield a new agreement.
According to Superintendent Curtis Whitesel, the two sides met at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, with both sides presenting offers. The meeting concluded about 11 p.m. and will reconvene Tuesday, Nov. 3.
The Hollidaysburg Area Education Association, the union representing the teachers, stated in a Facebook post that the district gave a detailed presentation on increasing healthcare costs and employee usage, and "expressed a strong desire to work toward containing healthcare costs."
The union stated that it was not provided with any information beyond the private broker's analysis to justify the district's healthcare cost concerns.
However, the union stated "we recognize the challenge of rising healthcare costs for all employers and working families in our communities."
The union stated that it offered solutions to incentivize employee health and wellness, reduce district healthcare and benefit costs, and contain future cost increases.
"We believe our members and the district's fiscal health are best served by directly addressing cost containment," the union stated in a Facebook post.
"After hours of work producing a proposal to address the district's cost concerns, the union was accused of adding new terms to negotiations.
"The district remains focused on passing projected cost increases directly to employees and expressed unwillingness to consider alternatives that would directly address healthcare cost containment and employee health," the union stated in the post.
The union also stated that it received a proposal from the district which made minor forward progress over the Oct. 20 proposal.
Discussions continued through small groups and sidebars throughout the meeting, the union stated.
The two sides did not reach any new tentative agreements, the post states.
In his statement, Whitesel said the "board feels strongly that we are on the right track and will come to an agreement before the strike deadline of Nov. 23."
"We appreciate the teachers union’s willingness to stay late hours to work in unison to get a fair deal done. We look forward to next Tuesday with a strong belief that together, we can come to an agreement," Whitesel said.
The teachers have been working without a contract since mid-August.