Pa. teachers near Pittsburgh to end strike

GLENSHAW, Pa. (AP) — The Shaler Area School District near Pittsburgh has reached a tentative agreement with its striking teachers.

According to the district’s website, the teachers’ union ratified the deal this morning, and the school board was expected to approve it at a meeting that night.

The district’s 390 teachers will return to work Thursday and students will return to class Friday. The teachers have been on strike since Sept. 3, the day classes were to have begun for the 2013-14 school year.

Melissa Ravas, president of the Shaler Area Education Association, tells the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette the union agreed to the deal after the district agreed to binding arbitration on salary schedules, which was the only item on which the sides could not agree.

The district just northeast of Pittsburgh has about 4,700 students.