Photographs of the Upper Dauphin Area Education Association on strike against the Upper Dauphin Area School Board, which took place in September, 1991. None of the individuals in the photos are identified.
The following story appeared in the school’s 1992 yearbook, along with the photos:
UPPER DAUPHIN TEACHERS ON STRIKE
On September 3, 1991, students and teachers entered the Upper Dauphin High School, eagerly anticipating the new school year. Yet, overriding the excitement was the uncertainty connected to an unresolved teacher contract. Teachers and students remained optimistic and the routine processes of school started full force.
Things came to a halt on Sunday, September 15, when a negotiations session failed to bring about a contract agreement. Students were brought into school Monday, September 16, as teachers took to the picket lines. After attendance was taken students were sent home, where they would spend the next week in uncertainty.
An announcement, made to the public by Superintendent Dr. Hills, confirmed rumors that high school students would return to class with substitutes on September 24. A public board meeting on Thursday, September 26 brought out a cross-section of taxpayers, students and teachers, but the one central voice in the crowd beseeched both sides to settle and end the strike.
Following a nine hour negotiations session on Tuesday, October 1, the Upper Dauphin Area Education Association and the Board of Education reached a tentative agreement, and teachers returned to class on Thursday, October 3.
The teacher strike finally came to a definite end on Tuesday, October 8 when both sides ratified the contract.
The period of the strike grew trying as different views emerged on which side was right; even remaining neutral became a difficulty. With the strike resolved, and educators and students working happily yet diligently in classrooms, we can only hope that time speeds the healing of the pain felt in the entire community.
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From the 1992 yearbook, La Memoria, of the Upper Dauphin High School, Elizabethville, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. A complete digital copy of this yearbook is available on Ancestry.com.
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