SAN DIEGO — Hundreds of teachers protested outside Tuesday night’s San Diego Unified school board meeting after a contract agreement has yet to be reached.

The existing teacher’s union agreement expired in June of last year and despite more than a dozen bargaining sessions, the union and the school district cannot come to an agreement.

“You can tell the teachers are angry, we are fed up,” said Marjorie Treger, a theater resource teacher at the district level.

Hundreds of teachers, other employees of the district and their supporters spent the afternoon protesting after 15 failed contract negotiations this school year.

“The protest includes a lot of unions not just the teacher’s union. There are several unions negotiating their contracts. We are looking for safer classroom, safer campuses. We are looking for lower class sizes. There is a lot that goes in to running a school district,” said Treger.

Some of the things being proposed by the San Diego Education Association include a 10% pay raise, plus an increase in counselors, school nurses and elementary prep time to better support the students.

“A lot of people focusing on just the pay raise, but it’s more than just that. We need more school police, we need more security at the school,” said Alan Corey Douglas, a math teacher at Crawford High School.

SDEA says its contract proposal paves the way for schools and classrooms everyone deserves and its members have been critical, claiming the district comes to the bargaining table unprepared and unwilling to negotiate.

Meanwhile, the district released this statement to FOX 5:

“The San Diego Unified school district continues to work collaboratively with the San Diego Education Association and other labor partners on a contract that honors the work of our teachers and staff, and recognizes their dedication to educate and support students and help them recover from the effects of the pandemic.”

“It is time for the district to come to the table in good faith and settle a contract,” said Treger. “This is been going on way too long. It’s entirely disrespectful and we need action from the school district, from the school board, from Lamont Jackson right now.”

The district can’t give us a timeline of when they expect negotiations to be settled, but the union says it will be declaring impasse if an agreement isn’t reached by the end of this month.