The first negotiation session since Palmerton Area School District teachers went on strike ended Wednesday night without a new contract in place.

According to Tom Smelas, Palmerton Area Education Association president, Board President Chuck Myers called the union to the bargaining session.“We attended the meeting, without Pennsylvania State Education Association representation, in hopes of good faith bargaining,” Smelas said. “The PAEA negotiating team is outraged in that only a verbal, non-written proposal was given to us by Attorney David Conn. The district’s proposal was that if we agreed to end the strike by 8 p.m. Wednesday night, the school board would give the PAEA a salary schedule as a last-best final offer but 'we weren't going to like it'".Smelas said the union also asked for a meeting between four members of the association bargaining team and four members of the school board without Conn present. “They refused the request,” Smelas said. “It's painfully obvious the Board's negotiating team had no intention of bargaining this evening and simply drug us into this meeting to satisfy the demands of the public. It's also very clear and very disappointing that the board doesn't want to take responsibility for attempting to bargain this contract to settlement and wants to throw it into the hands of an outsider at the added expense to the taxpayers of Palmerton."Classes were cancelled again Thursday, marking the ninth straight day students would be home.The district announced Wednesday that, per the Pennsylvania Department of Education, high school students must begin taking the Keystone Exams immediately following the return of teachers.“With an anticipated return date of January 26, PDE has indicated we must test on this date and continue testing through Jan. 30,” the district said in a statement on its website. “Should the teachers return sooner, the testing schedule would be adjusted accordingly.”In 2016, the state delayed the requirement that students must pass the Keystone Exams in order to graduate.The tests are set to become a graduation requirement in the 2018-19 academic year.The district’s negotiating team has been contacted for comment on Tuesday’s bargaining session and the story will be updated when it is received.