MEAD, Wash. – The Mead Education Association voted on Thursday evening to authorize a strike if a .

According to the union, 97.1% of members supported authorizing the strike. Bargaining between the union and the Mead School District has included more than 16 sessions but has not produced a deal, the union said.

Mead EA leaders said that their concerns include class sizes, student support systems and staff workloads.

“We need proactive solutions to meet the needs in our classroom,” said Mead EA President Toby Doolittle. “Current practices are inconsistent and rely too heavily on our teachers, who already have a massive workload.”

Union leaders said that they remain hopeful an agreement can be reached before the start of school following Labor Day. Negotiations are scheduled to resume on

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