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<p>DALLAS TWP. &#8212; Tuesday&#8217;s Dallas School District teachers&#8217; strike will be followed by a Wednesday court hearing after a judge ordered them back to work.</p><p>The district&#8217;s lawyer also hopes that hearing could lead to court oversight of what has been a bitter and protracted contract negotiation process, something the union requested in a motion of its own.</p><p>&#8220;The board is in complete support of it,&#8221; school board attorney Vito DeLuca said, adding that the move would require a set number of negotiation sessions per week until a contract was reached. &#8220;I think that&#8217;s a positive step.&#8221;</p><p>Union president Michael Cherinka was not able to be reached for comment on the order.</p><p>Also Tuesday, the district announced the last day of school would be moved from June 28 to June 29.</p><p>Members of the Dallas Education Association carried signs that said &#8216;DEA on strike&#8217; as well as &#8216;Dallas School Board Work With Us, Enough is Enough&#8217; Tuesday morning as they walked along the district&#8217;s campus perimeter along Conyngham Avenue and Hildebrandt Road.</p><p>The strike followed a heated school board meeting Monday, at which board members passed a $38.6 million budget for the 2018-19 school year, but not the union&#8217;s latest contract proposal.</p><p>As they picketed, state Secretary of Education Pedro Rivera on Tuesday filed a court petition asking a judge to send the educators back to work, since anything more than a one-day strike would prevent students from receiving the full 180 days of instruction by June 30, as required by law.</p><p>State law says teachers can strike two times a year as long as the first strike ends in time to complete 180 school days by June 15. A second strike must end in time to complete 180 days by June 30.</p><p>Cherinka previously told a reporter that the strike was only expected to last one day for this reason.</p><p>Still, Luzerne County Judge William H. Amesbury ordered the teachers back to work on Wednesday, and set a hearing for 2 p.m. Wednesday on the matter.</p><p>Amesbury&#8217;s order came as no surprise to DeLuca, who called it &#8220;standard operating procedure.&#8221;</p><p>But, DeLuca added, it also technically qualifies the district for mandatory non-binding arbitration, something the teachers&#8217; union had refused in the past.</p><p>DeLuca did express hope regarding another motion filed in court Tuesday, in which the Dallas Education Association filed to have court supervised negotiation.</p><p><strong>Background </strong></p><p>On June 13, the Dallas Education Association emailed the &#8220;olive branch&#8221; offer to Dallas School District Superintendent Thomas Duffy with a stipulation that it is accepted &#8220;as is&#8221; or the teachers would strike, Mark McDade, the union&#8217;s chief negotiator said.</p><p>&#8220;Our offer is representative of prior district offers,&#8221; McDade said. &#8220;It is disingenuous of them to say they can&#8217;t afford it.&#8221;</p><p>The union&#8217;s proposal offered health care contributions, a two-year wage freeze and early retirement incentives, Cherinka said.</p><p>Monday night, District Business Manager Grant Palfey compared of the union&#8217;s June 13 offer against the district&#8217;s May 29 offer, which revealed some similarities and some differences.</p><p>Under the district&#8217;s proposal the current average salary is $62,076 for a Dallas teacher, which remains the same with the union&#8217;s offer, Palfey said.</p><p>However, the average salary for the 2018-19 school year would be $67,505 under the district&#8217;s offer, he said. The union&#8217;s proposal shows the average wage would increase to $77,087, Palfey said.</p><p>The district&#8217;s offer had a two percent average salary increase, but the union&#8217;s proposal calls for a six percent increase, he said.</p><p>Health care contributions varied, according to Palfey. Under the district&#8217;s proposal, health care contributions were estimated to be $1,923, he said. But, the union&#8217;s offer contributions were $634, Palfey said.</p><p>Teachers went on strike in November 2016 for 22 days and in September 2017 for seven days.</p><p>The next negotiation meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 20, McDade said.</p><p>&#8220;The teachers&#8217; goal of the strike is to raise the level of debate on the contract,&#8221; McDade said.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Dallas School District teachers strike along Conyngham Avenue in Dallas. 6/19/18. Sean McKeag | Times Leader</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/web1_TTL062018Strike-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Dallas School District teachers strike along Conyngham Avenue in Dallas. 6/19/18. Sean McKeag | Times Leader</caption0><photoCredit0>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/web1_TTL062018Strike2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Mark McDade, chief union negotiator, talks about the teachers&#8217; strike outside of the Dallas School District on Tuesday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/web1_TTL062018Strike2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Mark McDade, chief union negotiator, talks about the teachers&#8217; strike outside of the Dallas School District on Tuesday. </caption1><photoCredit1>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Court hearing set for today</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Eileen Godin and Patrick Kernan</p><p>egodin@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Eileen Godin at 570-991-6387 or on Twitter @TLNews.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Judge orders Dallas teachers back to work, sets hearing