The hope was that this would be the year of improved discipline, grades, attitudes and state test scores in the Duquesne School District.

Its new administrative team, discipline code, curriculum and sports teams are in place. In fact, the seventh- and eighth-grade girls' basketball team was to play its first game today.

But the high hopes and plans of officials from the district and the Allegheny Intermediate Unit, which is managing Duquesne via an agreement with the state Department of Education, were put on hiatus yesterday when teachers reported to the picket lines rather than the classrooms.

The teachers, in negotiations on a wage reopener in their contract, have demanded a 19 percent salary increase. The state board of control overseeing the district is offering a 3 percent hike.

Tom Sturm, communications director for the Duquesne Education Association, which represents the district's 50 teachers, said they have the lowest average salary -- $44,000 -- in Allegheny County.

He said the 19 percent increase would bring Duquesne teachers to the 2007-08 level of salaries in the neighboring Clairton School District, which is the second-lowest paid district in the county.

But Duquesne district Solicitor William Andrews said the comparison is not relevant because the Clairton district is operating in the black and Duquesne, which serves 462 pupils in grades K-8, is not.

"In plain English, this district is a bankrupt corporation," Mr. Andrews said.

Also, he pointed out that Clairton's scores on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests were significantly higher in some areas than were Duquesne's. The Allegheny Intermediate Unit last week released a report that indicated Duquesne scores were well below the state mandated levels and in some areas had dropped from last year.

Mr. Sturm said another factor that prompted the strike was the administrative expenses the board of control took on this year.

For the 2008-09 school year, the board created the position of community education liaison for Barbara McDonnell, paying her the same $87,550 salary she received as elementary school principal last year, and hired Davaun Barnett from the Pittsburgh Public Schools as principal at a salary of $101,000. In addition, it hired Sharon McIntosh, also from the Pittsburgh schools, as assistant principal at a salary of $80,000.

"For so many years, we listened to them say 'We have no money,' and we believed them," Mr. Sturm said. He added that if the district could find extra money in the budget for administrators, it should be able to do so for teachers.

Mr. Andrews said Mrs. McDonnell's salary is being funded by a grant, and that $282,000 in state funding went toward hiring an additional 3.6 classroom teachers and to extra-curricular activities.

A state mediator is in charge of scheduling negotiation sessions. As of late yesterday, none was scheduled.

In the meantime, students who were looking forward to participating in sports are disappointed, parents said.

Lisa Coulter-Neal, whose daughter, Alissa Lohr, 13, is on the girls' basketball team, said, "She was really excited about this and they were just getting ready to get their jerseys when the strike started. Now she is bummed out." Mrs. Coulter Neal has three other children in the district.

Cynthia Adams, whose son, Dontez, 12, is missing football practice, said "The kids are the ones really losing out with this.

"And it's not just about the sports. I want to see them get their education. I want to see them back in the classroom."