The Scarborough teachers’ union held a rally during school board meetings Thursday evening to call attention to stalled contract talks.

The school board held a workshop and a regular meeting at the Scarborough Municipal Building. The teachers’ contract was on neither agenda.

Union leaders and the school board began negotiations in February and the three-year contract expired Aug. 31, according to Krystal Ash-Cuthbert, a teacher and president of the Scarborough Education Association. After more than 10 bargaining sessions and two mediation sessions, the two sides are about to enter fact finding, a process facilitated by a panel with a neutral chairperson.

The teachers say they are seeking additional time to improve their practice, create better lessons and meet the increasing demands of the profession; an explicit complaints-and-investigations process that is clear and fair; and salaries that are comparable to districts in nearby communities with a similar tax base.

“We have a fact-finding meeting scheduled for Monday,” School Board Chairwoman Leanne Kazilionos said in a statement Thursday night. “We have good-faith disagreements about what should be in the contract and we will look forward to the recommendation from the panel and hope that it will help us reach a settlement.”

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education, public schools, scarborough maine
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