JEFFERSON TWP — Students in the South Butler School District will lose one day of Easter vacation as a result of the teachers strike.

Brooke Witt, Uniserv negotiator for the teachers union, said on Saturday that the students were to have Tuesday, April 3 off and return on Wednesday, April 4.

But because the state Department of Education has mandated that the district's teachers return to the classroom on April 3, the students will attend classes on that day.

Teachers began a strike on Thursday, after nearly four years of failed negotiations for a new contract between the union's 168 members and the district. The teachers' last contract with the district expired June 30, 2014.

According to Act 88, students must have 180 days of instruction by June 15. The Department of Education calculates the return date using that formula.

Regarding the picket line, teachers are marching along Dinnerbell and Knoch roads, Witt said they will only picket this week on Monday and Friday mornings because of the results from past strikes in the district, when teachers picketed for 12 to 15 hours per day.

“The last four strikes had a pretty heavy picket schedule and I think the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again with no results,” Witt said.

She said the teachers are steadfast in their resolve to get a fair contract from the school board.

“Everyone's good,” Witt said of the teachers' mindset during the strike. “They're standing strong. They're very unified right now.”

Students in the high school are split in their attitude toward the strike, said Knoch High School junior Kylie Feldbauer.

“Some kids just want to sleep in, but there are kids like me who value their education and are upset,” Kylie said.

Classes at the high school, she said, were halfway through many difficult lessons and will struggle to recall the information once classes return.

Kylie's math class was midway through a hard section on trigonometry.

“I'm not looking forward to coming back and trying to catch up,” she said.

The students are also uncertain about the deadlines and due dates for projects now that the school year has been interrupted.

“It's all up in the air,” Kylie said. “It makes me stressed out a little more, knowing nothing is certain.”