Nov 2, 2017 2 min read

Ringgold School District reported progress in talks with striking schoolteachers as negotiations ended Wednesday, movement that could return students to the classroom by the end of the week.

“Both sides presented proposals in an effort to return students to the classroom on Friday,” said District Superintendent Karen Polkabla.

She said Ringgold Education Association and district “communicated postively toward a settlement.”

Bargaining will resume at 10 a.m. today, and other negotiations were scheduled for Nov. 8 and 13, Polkabla said.

The 210 Ringgold teachers walked off of the job Oct. 18, with the proposal to freeze them at their current salary step for five years as one of the biggest challenges preventing a new 5-year contract.

The union also rejected a fact-finder’s recommendation that would have taken their salaries from between $36,000 and $78,508 a year last term to between $41,439 and $83,947 a year by the end of the contract.

“This was the first time I felt like the district was willing to work with us,” Ringgold Education Association President Maria Degnan said after Thursday’s bargaining session ended.

She said a tentative agreement does not need to be reached to resume classes Friday if the union “sees more movement” as talks resume.

“We made decent movement today,” Dignan said.