The Shadyside Local School District and its teachers reached a tentative labor agreement Tuesday, precluding a strike by teachers that had been planned for later this week.

Details of the new teachers' contract won't be released until after it is approved by members of both the Shadyside Education Association and the Shadyside Board of Education, but negotiators for both sides said they have signed off on the agreement.

The teachers are set to meet Thursday, and it is likely the proposed agreement will be presented to them then, said Linda Tomer, president of the SEA.

Superintendent Terry Brinker, meanwhile, will present the contract to the board of education for consideration, but he isn't certain when that will happen.

"I have no idea how quickly this will get to a vote," he said. "I don't know if it will be before the weekend."

Brinker noted this is because the board also is presently negotiating a contract with members of the Ohio Association of Public School Employees, which represents most of the support staff in the district.

He said school board members are to meet regarding those negotiations today.

The tentative labor agreement with teachers comes just a week after Shadyside voters rejected a 5.4-mill renewal levy to cover the costs of "emergency requirements" in the school district. School officials expect revenues to decline by more than $500,000 due to the loss of the levy.

Still, school leaders and Shadyside residents are excited that the Shadyside High School football team is to have a state playoff game Saturday against Grove City Christian High School. The teachers had planned to walk out Friday, the day before the game.

The school district, in the interim, had planned to hired replacement teachers from the Huffmasters company in Michigan to continue classes there. Players not attending classes Friday would not have been eligible to participate in Saturday's game.

"The administration had taken the steps to keep operating, but we were always very interested in getting this settled," Brinker said. "We've always thought it was to our advantage to have our teachers in the schools teaching our students. It's been a long process."

Tomer declined to comment on whether the football game in any way affected contract negotiations, saying that question would be better posed to school district officials.

"We've always been optimistic that a fair resolution would occur," she said. "And we are absolutely thrilled that our Tigers are in the playoffs."