After an executive session meeting Thursday evening, the Hermitage school board said they want to meet with the Hermitage Education Association again in an attempt to end the teachers strike now in its second day.

"We're still rejecting fact-finding, but we are willing to sit down at the table and start talking," said board President Duane Piccirilli.

He said the board authorized Hermitage school superintendent Karen Ionta to contact the state mediator to set up the meeting.

The district's 165 teachers went on strike Thursday after negotiations broke down Tuesday evening over salary increases. The district is offering $1,600 a year and the union wants $2,700. The pay raises include regular "step" increases teachers receive based on their years of service and level of education.

Estock said he was thrilled to hear about the board's decision to request a meeting, though he had not been formally notified Friday morning.

"I've always said this is solvable," he said. "None of the teachers like not teaching. Teaching is what we do, and we want to get back to doing it."

The HEA's fact-finding offer, made after negotiations broke down, would have allowed a neutral third party appointed by the state to crunch the numbers and come up with a settlement figure.

It also would have prevented a strike during the fact-finding process, according to HEA chief negotiator Paul Estock.

Piccirilli said the union could have asked for fact finding without the board's approval and avoided a strike.

Estock disputed that and cited Act 88, the state law that covers teachers contract negotiations. "Fact-finders can only be appointed per mutual request of both the teachers and the board," he said.

Piccirilli said a meeting with HEA hasn't been set but hopes it will be early next week.

As of Friday morning, superintendent Karen Ionta said that she still had not been informed by the state department of education the exact number of days the union could strike, but according to a formula in Act 88, the strike could last, at most, six or seven days.

Hermitage teachers have been working without a contract for since July. Negotiations have been going on for 15 months.