Jefferson County -- Hopes were up, then let down this week. Punxsutawney Area School Board members agreed to enter into non-binding arbitration with the Punxsutawney teacher's union on Monday. If that would have happened, students could have been back to class as early as Monday. The union put forth a proposal for structuring the arbitration, and upon reviewing that structure, the board said, "no, thanks."

According to a news release from the district, the teacher's union wanted to be able to resume their strike after the arbitration hearing. Board members disagreed, saying it would result in the board allowing three strikes in a school year, instead of the two allowed by law.

In a second point, the district said the teachers wanted the proposed arbitration to be separate from any arbitration that would be mandated by law at the end of the strike. That would mean that if no agreement were reached in the proposed arbitration, taxpayers would end up footing the bill for two arbitration hearings.

The district issued a proposal in reply, asking the teachers to: a) bring the strike to an end once arbitration begins, only allowing a total of 2 strikes in the calendar year, b) allow the inclusion of economic items in the arbitration (the district says the teachers tried to limit the issues in their proposal), and c) allow each side to invite ten resident observers into the hearings, as well as members of the media.

The district says they've issued their counter-proposal, and now it is up to the teachers to consider accepting it.