NORTH BEND — Teachers in North Bend want a contract and they want it now.

They made their feelings known Thursday afternoon, as a group of about 30 North Bend, and some Coos Bay instructors, banged drums, chanted, hooted and waved signs for the North Bend Education Association negotiating team. Negotiators walked into the North Bend School District Office for a second mediation session.

“These are our colleagues in education who are here to show they are supportive of the negotiation team and the requests we are making,” Association President Tanya Sinko said, before walking into the office. “They are saying no to an 8.5 percent pay cut.”

Today, school board chairwoman Deb Reid said that the 8.5 percent figure is inaccurate.

“What we’re asking for is 0 percent pay increase and no increase in their insurance,” Reid said.

She wasn’t sure where teachers are getting the 8.5 percent cut, although it might be connected to a proposal to cut school days.

“We’re puzzled by it,” Reid said.

She said teachers have a cap on their insurance plan, so when rates go up teachers pay out of pocket to make up the difference. She noted the teams worked on the contract until about 3 a.m. today. They still can’t agree.

The two sides went into mediation Sept. 30, after negotiators requested help from the Employment Relations Board Conciliation Service Office.

Sinko said the two sides are operating under a closed bargaining model, but the district has presented teachers with the same offer since April. Teachers also are opposed to cutting days. The district has proposed to cut up to 10 instruction days. Students would get less class time, teachers said, and instructors wouldn’t get pay for the days off work.

Reid said the district has planned six cut days in its budget. Each day represents about a .5 percent cut in teachers’ income, she explained.

While negotiations haven’t progressed, Sinko said union members have not discussed the possibility of a strike.

“We have not had any conversations surrounding that as an association yet,” Sinko said.

She refused to speculate when that conversation would occur.

“We’re hoping that the board is going to make some movement based on the show of support at the last board meeting in November.”

More than two dozen teachers attended the school district’s Nov. 9 board meeting to demonstrate support for union negotiators.

After the team walked into the office at 1913 Meade St., teachers walked around the block, chanting “Give us a contract now,” and “Give us some dinero.” White signs, drawn up in marker, exclaimed “no cut days” “Education First,” “NB students deserve a full year,” and “Support our schools.”

One sign holder, North Bend High School councilor Pam Romanko, said teachers rallied to show support for the team, which has put in a lot of hours on building a contract.

“We don’t want to keep working without a contract,” she said. “We’d like a fair contract. I think teachers are working harder with less and we want to do a good job for the people of the North Bend School District.”

Reid said the contract expired on July 1, and teachers are operating under the same salary as last year.

Teachers said the lack of a contract and recent changes in benefits have been disheartening.

“We love our jobs, but we want to be compensated fairly,” said Ruth Ellen Melton, a fourth-grade teacher at Hillcrest Elementary.

Sara and Jeff Buskerud, who both work at Hillcrest, said they are paying about $300 a month combined for medical insurance. Last year, it cost about $170 per month.

“I’m hoping they’ll come to some decision that will benefit us,” Sara Buskerud said.