This article was posted at 5:45 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 19. It will also appear in the Wednesday, Nov. 21 issue of the Pine Creek Journal.

The Shaler Area teachers union reached a tentative agreement Monday after a day-long bargaining session with the school board’s representatives.

While the strike date is still on until both side’s members ratify the agreement, all that remains is the vote to approve the pact.

“Obviously we’re very excited,” said Shaler Superintendent Dr. Don Lee. “We kind of knew we had it Friday, but we just ran out of time.”

The two sides made significant progress Friday and representatives from each side said they were pleased and agreed on things in principal, but no formal agreement was made until Monday.

The sides started their negotiating at 9:30 a.m. and didn’t finish until nearly 5 p.m.

Validia Giddens, chief negotiator for the teachers union, also expressed her satisfaction with the fact that the two sides agreed on terms.

“It has its peaks and valleys,” Giddens said of the agreement. “A tentative deal was reached. Things went well.”

Giddens said she will share the proposal with the general membership tomorrow. They will vote on it on Monday, Nov. 26.

Lee will also take the proposal to the school board tomorrow. They will vote on it on Tuesday, Nov. 27.

Lee said that even though both sides are excited over the tentative agreement, it doesn’t mean that the strike has been called off. The date is still set and a strike will take place if both sides don’t approve the deal.

“It’s positive, but it’s not over yet,” Lee said. “We’ll call ourselves cautiously optimistic.”

The original contract covers 429 teachers and expired on Aug. 15.