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Track star Sydney McLaughlin is no run-of-the-mill teenager

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Our Opinion: Take PennDOT’s survey to improve road safety

With two or three exceptions, public school teacher and support staff unions in Luzerne County are starting the 2016-17 school year with scant evidence of potential labor strife.According to a list provided by Pennsylvania State Educational Association Northeast Region spokesman Paul Shemansky, of the Luzerne County unions in contract negotiations, five have contracts that expire this year and three others&#8217; expired last year.The most potentially problematic negotiations are with the Crestwood support staff, who have been working under terms of an expired contract since 2013, making it the longest any local union has been working under such terms.But that&#8217;s something the Crestwood secretaries, custodians and others covered by the contract are used to. Previous contract talks lasted seven years, albeit with various interim agreements, and were only settled after a Luzerne County judge ordered daily negotiations until a settlement was reached.Dallas teachers are entering their second year working with an expired contract, unusual in a district that generally settles negotiations under the radar. The current contract was settled in April 2011, eight months after the previous one had expired.On the surface, Wyoming Area should be safe from any strikes or sour notes: The contract expires this month and &#8212; as required by state law &#8212; negotiations began at the start of the year. But the two sides had a bitter battle in negotiations last time, and that was only two years ago.The previous contract expired in 2010, and contract talks grew acrimonious as the 2013-14 school year began with a month-long strike. The two sides settled in June 2014 with what was technically a six-year contract, but four of those years had already passed, leaving only two years until it expired again.Shemansky said both sides have been negotiating and exchanging offers, holding three meetings so far. He said the union had wanted six.Other PSEA-affiliated unions in negotiations, and the year that contract expired: Dallas support staff, 2016; Dallas cafeteria staff, 2015; Northwest Area teachers, 2016; Pittston Area support staff, 2015; West Side Career and Technical Center teachers, 2016; and Wilkes-Barre Area secretaries, 2016.<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Mark Guydishmguydish@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</shirttailMeta></div>

With exceptions, Luzerne County school union contracts look strife free