ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Teachers in the city's public schools voted Tuesday to approve a new contract, averting a strike in the 32,000-student district.þþTeachers, who voted overwhelmingly in favor of the deal, had set a strike deadline of Wednesday.þþThe new four-year deal, which is effective immediately, gives teachers and other staff higher salaries and more professional development opportunities.þþ``This is not the best package, but at this time it's the best we could do without a strike,'' said Mary Armstrong, president of St. Louis Teachers and School Related Personnel Union Local 420.þþThe school district hailed the teachers' vote.þþ``I am just elated, and I am very prayerful that this is just a beginning,'' said school board President Darnetta Clinksdale.þþTeachers have been working without a contract since July. The district had offered a salary plan it said was aimed at bringing pay in line with five suburban districts, providing raises that would cost the financially strapped district millions of dollars.þþUnion members rejected that offer.þþSt. Louis teachers have struck three times since 1973, even though state law forbids teacher strikes. State law is vague on enforcement, but a school board attorney said striking teachers could be fired or face a court order forcing them to return to work.þþ
Source: NY Times
