A negotiating session will take place tonight between the Palmerton Area School District and Palmerton Area Education Association.

Palmerton teachers have been on strike since Jan. 9.At issue is the district’s proposed elimination of a salary schedule that teachers said is common in “around 500 other districts in the state.”The district is proposing to eliminate a $12,000 jump step for teachers approaching the end of the salary scale, pay starting teachers $50,000 and give each teacher, regardless of years of experience, a 3.25 percent salary increase for each year of a four-year contract.“Eleven people are up for that jump step this year,”chief district negotiator John Audi said, “and if we keep that in there the way it is, that eats up a lot of money that could be spread through the rest of the contract to bring more equity.”Teachers said the offer is not sustainable and members of the union’s negotiating committee who have already reached the highest step voted to reject it.“We don’t want 3.25 percent at the top,” Smelas said at last night’s school board meeting. “Give it to the people who are working their way up. They deserve it.”Audi said the board is looking to create more equity among the teacher salaries.The district’s proposal would pay a starting teacher the same as a teacher with seven years of experience, Smelas said.Public comment at Tuesday’s board meeting criticized the board for not meeting with teachers since the strike began and for not meeting without its labor attorney present.Chuck Myers, Palmerton School Board president, said attorney David Conn would be filling in for Audi during Wednesday’s negotiating session.Smelas, lead negotiator for the union, said Pennsylvania State Education Association representative Molly Mirabito, who has been with the teachers in prior negotiating sessions, would not be present tonight.Archived video from Tuesday night's board meeting is available on the Times News Lehighton Facebook page.