The Whitehall-Coplay School Board made the decision to approve the calendar of the 2014-15 academic year calendar at its March 10 meeting.

The board made the approval despite the Whitehall-Coplay Education Association's refusal to sign a memorandum of understanding.

The calendar has students starting school after Labor Day.

At last month's school board meeting, Superintendent John Corby explained teachers needed to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in order to start working before the current contract ends.

The current contracts end on Sept. 1.

According to Corby the memorandum prevents teachers from taking legal action against the district for working before the terms of their new contract. This is due to precedents set in earlier court cases that forced the districts to give teachers an automatic step and column raise, Corby said at last month's meeting.

During the public comment part of the meeting, WCEA President Joe Krempasky spoke to the board.

"Regarding administrator's demand for an MOU, the school year calendar is set by the school board and administration and is not determined by the professional teaching staff," he said. "Rather than waste time responding to demands over issues we don't control we would rather be spending the next six months leading up to the next school year more productively, by working with the district to reach an agreement that is mutually beneficial to our students, our schools, our professional staff and our community. We would certainly hope the school board feels the same way."

The board made no response to Krempasky's statement and continued the meeting.

When asked by The Press after the meeting, Krempasky confirmed the union has not agreed to sign the memorandum at this time.