Teachers will not enter early negotiations for a contract, said Mike Kalpich, chief negotiator for the Sharpsville Area Education Association.

Early-bird negotiations are an attempt to reach an agreement prior to the start of formal negotiations, said Superintendent Dr. Derry Stufft. Usually in early negotiations, the number of items to be negotiated is limited, he said.

"They want to go through formal negotiations," Stufft said. "Everything in the contract basically has to be renegotiated."

The teachers current 5-year contract expires June 30; negotiations are to begin in January.

Kalpich said the union had talked to the school administration in the spring about "negotiating in the late spring or early summer."

The union's executive board voted in May to start preliminary negotiations, but Kalpich said, the teachers didn't hear back from the school board until about three weeks ago.

Kalpich said the board was willing to start bargaining, but the union decided against it, in part, because the board stipulated the contract be wrapped up by December.

Stufft said the negotiations would have to be finished by December because, by state law, formal negotiations must begin by January.

He added the school board's offer to negotiate early is still on the table. "The teachers can still accept it if they want to."

In the meantime, the negotiating committee will meet weekly to work on the union's proposal for the spring, Kalpich said.