Following another day of the Penns Manor School district teacher’s strike, the school board held a meeting on Wednesday evening.
Dozens of teachers. Residents, and students showed up to voice their opinions about the ongoing strike and subsequent school cancellations.
The strike has been ongoing for over a week now and students haven’t been able to attend class for eight consecutive school days. All of this because the teacher’s union disagreed with the healthcare and retirement incentives set in the new contract proposed by the district and are asking to maintain their current level of benefits while providing competitive salaries to attract new teachers as many are set to retire.
“This is difficult, This is something that we never dreamed that we have to do, we hoped that we never had to do. But, we also feel like we try to teach our students to stand up for themselves and to stand up for others who maybe won’t stand up for themselves or to stand up for what they believe in and what they think is right and so that’s what we’re doing.”
Students also addressed the school district about their hopes for a resolution.
“I just feel like we could have been in school last week if we would have all came together and just worked on something, I just want us to go back to school, as soon as possible. That’s what I’m really looking forward to.”
Penns Manor School District will be closed again on Thursday while negotiations continue in the morning.