The Murphysboro Board of Education and the Murphysboro Education Association are currently in mediation in hopes of avoiding a teacher's strike.
MEA lead negotiator Catlin Langellier says the district has lost more than dozen teachers in the past two years.
"I hope that we can reach an agreement that makes it so that we can attract and retain quality teachers for Murphysboro. We have lost a lot of teachers to other districts in the last two years. So, we need to be competitive."
The Board says the earliest date a strike could occur is October 1st. But, Langellier says no strike date is set.
"We are still in the mediation and negotiation process. We hope to solve this without a strike. We do not want our students to miss school."
According to the published offers, the MEA wants a four percent salary increase over the next two years and 3.5 percent in the third year of the deal. The Board is offering a straight dollar amount to each employee that amounts to 775, 800 and 825-dollar step increases over the three-year proposal.
