JEFFERSON TWP — A rally meant to decrease community divisiveness and help bring contract resolution to the South Butler School District will be held Wednesday.

Parents, students, teachers, staff and residents are invited to the “Heal Our Community” rally at 6:30 p.m. at the South Butler Primary School on Knoch Road.

The rally was organized by the South Butler School Action Committee, which was formed in February to “create a forum to inspire positive community engagement for the benefit of our students through action.”

One of the group's founders, Heather Helsel, said the school district's residents have been divided over the stalemate between the district's 168 teachers and the school board.

Teachers in the district have been working without a contract for nearly four years as bargaining between the two sides has dragged on unproductively. The union's previous contract expired on June 30, 2014.

The teachers announced they will strike on Thursday if a contract is not settled before that date.

As a result the school board, through its solicitor and negotiator Tom Breth, made an offer late last week that the teachers countered, and the board replied to the counter offer in a six-hour bargaining session.

Bargaining sessions were planned for Monday and Tuesday night using a state mediator in the hopes of settling a contract before the strike date.

“It's about everybody coming together to say it's been long enough,” Helsel said of Wednesday's rally. “We need to support each other as a community and solve this problem.”

She said should the contract be settled before or on Wednesday, the rally will be canceled.

“We don't want to rally on Wednesday, but we will be there if we have to be,” Helsel said.

She said rally organizers are lining up talking points and making signs.

“It's important that we show support for our students,” Helsel said.

The community has been divided over the stalled contract negotiations, with some favoring the teachers receiving a raise for the first time in four years and others decrying the possibility of a tax increase should teachers' wages be raised.

“The divisiveness of the two sides has been a problem in the ongoing negotiations,” Helsel said.

All are invited to the rally should the teachers and district not come to an agreement by Wednesday.

“The more people we can have showing up (to support the) resolution (of a contract), the better for everyone,” Helsel said.