Hermitage School District and the teachers' union ratified a contract agreement Tuesday after almost a year and a half of contract negotiations and a seven-day strike.

"There was give and take both ways. That's what negotiations are about," said Superintendent Karen Ionta. "I just congratulate everyone and I'm thrilled. It's a good feeling it's done."

The biggest bone of contention -- a salary increase offer by the district of $1,600 and the 165-member Hermitage Education Association's request for $2,700 -- had kept the two sides from reaching an agreement.

Under the new contract, the teachers will get a salary increase of about $1,800, almost $1,000 less than the HEA originally demanded. The increase includes the regular "step" increases teachers receive based on their years of service and level of education.

"It was mutually agreed upon," said HEA chief negotiator Paul Estock, a sixth-grade teacher with the district. "We always said we were willing to move. We never drew a line in the sand."

Estock, who would not say how many teachers attended the 4 p.m. meeting Tuesday, said the contract was ratified by a margin of about 2 to 1.

"All of us are relieved that it's there and it's done," he said.

The school board held a special meeting before a work session and unanimously approved the contract.

The strike in March changed the last day of school from June 5 to June 14 to fulfill the state-mandated 180 days in a school year.

Following the strike, the two sides went into non-binding final arbitration with a state-appointed arbiter. The district did not change their salary offer, but the HEA changed theirs from $2,700 to $2,200. A tentative agreement was reached with the help of the arbitor on June 6.

In the new contract, the teachers will get a salary increase of $1,834 for the just-concluded 2001-2002 school year, then $1,833 for the two remaining years of the contract, which is an increase of 3.92 percent the first year, 3.77 percent during the 2002-2003 school year, and 3.63 percent during the 2003-2004 school year, the last of the contract.

The average starting salary will go from $31,976 to $32,692 during the first year of the contract, and will end up being $34,322 during the 2003-2004 school year. The average teachers' salary will be approximately $48,704, up from $47,033. By the last year of the contract, the average salary will be approximately $52,365. By the 2003-2004 school year, the highest salary, for a teacher with a masters' degree plus 60 credit hours, will be $63,651.

Supplemental contracts for teachers coaching sports and advising certain other extracurricular activities will follow the same percentage scale as the salary increase, according to the new contract.

Neither side wanted to go into detail about other contract issues, but the board said that when the next contract negotiations begin, they want to address teachers' health-care costs with the health-care consortium they are in.

"We're going to work closely with the consortium," said board president Duane Piccirilli, referring to the Western Pennsylvania Schools Health Care Consortium that Hermitage and about a dozen other area schools belong to. "Being in the consortium is to everyone's advantage, but right now there's no way we can ask the teachers' to participate in paying toward the monthly premium. If necessary, (during the next contract negotiations) we may ask them to pay a small amount toward the monthly premium." The district presently covers 100 percent of the HEA's medical coverage.

Negotiations begin in January 2004 for the next teachers' contract.