The five-year Norwin teachers contract will expire this Friday, but both school officials and the teachers union are hoping to resolve the issue and avoid a potential strike.

Gerald Radacsy, president of Norwin Education Association and an English teacher at Norwin High School, said the association's five-member negotiating team, including Lori Stripay of UniServ, will meet Friday evening to assess the situation and decide what to do.

UniServ representatives are employed by the Pennsylvania State Education Associ-ation to provide guidance.

Next week, both parties will meet to continue discussions on salaries, health-care benefits for active and retired employees, class preparation time for teachers and the length of time for the next contract.

"Basically, there are two options -- continue working under the present contract or go on strike if it may be in the best interest," Radacsy said.

"We hope a strike would be a last resort and would only be done if there is a stalemate. If there is a stalemate where nobody is talking, you have to create some kind of movement."

The association has 318 members.

Superintendent John Boy-lan said the ongoing discussions have been a give-and-take process.

"I believe both sides would like to have this resolved," Boylan said.

Early negotiations began in January of 2006.

At the last negotiations meeting on Aug. 15, Radacsy said both parties could not address all the issues.

"With all the changes in the state requirements with No Child Left Behind, there is more communication between teachers and special education department teachers," he said.

"We need more time to prepare to meet the best interest of the students."

On Monday's first day of school, many teachers chose not to enter assigned buildings until five minutes before the start of the school day for a one-morning message to the school district.

"We wanted to let the district know in addition to the normal workday, teachers put in much more time, arriving early and staying late," Radacsy said. "Sometimes that is forgotten and overlooked."

In a letter sent out to parents, Boylan wrote, "We do not anticipate this to be problematic as teachers will be in the buildings for the entire instructional day."

A strike or lockout has not occurred for a few decades, and people on both sides hope it stays that way.

"We have a great relationship with the negotiating team. There is a great deal of respect for each other on both parties," he said. "I'm very optimistic and hopeful that we can get the issues resolved."