Penn Hills teachers began a strike Thursday that could keep them out of classes through next week.

The Penn Hills Education Association announced the plan to strike Monday, citing deadlocked contract negotiations regarding teachers' pay, annual step pay increases and the percentage of health care premiums paid by teachers, among other issues.

About 200 of the association's 415 members showed up for protests at schools or at the group's temporary headquarters in St. Gerard Majella Parish in Penn Hills by 9:30 Thursday. The remaining teachers were expected to relieve colleagues during an afternoon shift that lasted until 3:30, according to PHEA spokesman Butch Santicola.

The two parties have been negotiating since at least December, though Mr. Santicola said preliminary talks started late 2008. A contract status update on the district website claims union negotiators rejected a five-year settlement proposal worth more than $11 million, declined to take an amended offer to its membership, rejected fact-finding with the State Labor Relations Board and only decreased its wage demand to 6 percent after a request for a 15 percent increase was made public.

Board president Joseph Bailey also accused the union of misrepresenting teachers and resisting teacher evaluations in a letter posted on the district's site Thursday.

Mr. Santicola, who has repeatedly declined to discuss contract negotiations, denied any misrepresentation. He said that the board proposed eliminating the evaluation provision in the old contract in favor of a system that would allow the district to pick and choose which teachers to lay off..

The parties are set to return to negotiations today at 5:30, but Mr. Santicola said there could be delays next week because the district's chief negotiator, Bruce Campbell, is going on vacation.

State guidelines require strikes to end in time for students to complete 180 school days by June 15, but the deadline could extended to June 30 if mandatory non-binding arbitration fails and there is a second strike. The state Department of Education will notify both parties of how long the strike can last.

Meanwhile, the district has tentatively canceled all activities except sporting events with adult supervision.

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