HARRISBURG – School employees at the Harrisburg School District packed a district board meeting for a second consecutive week in their efforts to end the school year with a new contract in place.
Harrisburg Education Association president Jody Barksdale told FOX43 this is the most confident she has been in the past four years that an agreement can finally be reached, particularly due to board action on Monday.
After getting off to a late start because an executive session ran long, board member Alan Kennedy-Shaffer introduced a resolution supporting fair negotiations with the HEA. The resolution was approved late Monday.
“It was good to hear that the board is really willing to work with us, which we thought all along,” Barksdale said. “We didn’t think that they didn’t, but that resolution that they put in place and that they all voted in favor of it, there’s still hope.”
The public encouraged the board to influence the district’s negotiating team to come to an agreement with the HEA.
The next negotiating session is scheduled for Friday, May 20, with additional sessions set for May 23 and 24, with the hope that a deal can be ratified by the time school is dismissed on June 2.
