Negotiators for the Jim Thorpe Education Association and the district's board of education positioned themselves about $1,500 per year apart in their salary request proposals as contract negotiations began under the helm of state mediator Robert Millet of Bethlehem.

Classes for the district's 1,250 students were canceled for the fourth time as teachers engaged in a selective strike by delaying the time they would report to school until 9:30 a.m.After the first mediated session, "Basically, nothing took place," was the version of Jim Morgan, president of the association and the union's chief negotiator.