Board to vote on teacher pact

SEBRING -- Sebring Board of Education will meet at 5:45 p.m. todayto vote on a contract with the district's 59-member teachers union.
Teachers ratified the agreement Tuesday morning.
Superintendent Howard Friend commended both sides for working hard to reach an agreement that was fair to the teachers and financially responsible to the community.
JoAnn Jones, spokeswoman for the teachers union, the Sebring Local Education Association, said a marathon bargaining session from 1 p.m. Sunday to 4 a.m. Monday was "quite productive" and "we felt it is a contract fair to both sides."
In separate statements issued Tuesday, representatives for the union and the board stated no details will be released until an agreement is ratified.
Teachers have been working without a contract since Aug. 31, 2001. The association issued a strike notice Jan. 11 and were scheduled to strike at 12:01 a.m. today if the agreement had not been ratified by both parties. The union delayed the strike when the tentative pact was reached Monday.