Seneca Valley school board seeks arbitration

The Post-Gazette reports the Seneca Valley school board is asking the teachers to attend non-binding arbitration to avoid the strike and ensure the school year will not be disrupted.

In a letter dated Tuesday, the law firm representing the board noted that under state law, both sides would be required to take part in nonbinding arbitration if a teachers strike prevented the district from providing 180 days of instruction by June 15, 2008. That would happen in November, according to the letter, which was signed by Thomas E. Breth of Dillon McCandless King Coulter & Graham in Butler.

"In an effort to spare the students and their families the inconvenience of a teacher-initiated strike, the board is willing to immediately agree to participate in voluntary nonbinding arbitration," the letter said.

The board asked the teachers to respond to the request by 5 p.m. today.

"We're going to call our team together and give [the offer] all due respect," Butch Santicola, a Pennsylvania State Education Association spokesman representing the teachers union, said yesterday. He said the teachers hoped to meet the district's deadline.

The Seneca Valley Education Association has announced it's 575 teachers would go on strike starting Monday, October 15.