SOUTHAMPTON — Teachers and other school staff picketed outside the William E. Norris School on Monday afternoon to draw attention to what they say are stalled contract negotiations and an unfair labor charge against the School Committee.

A few dozen members of the Southampton Teachers Association marched outside the school with signs like “dedicated to students” and “dedicated but not supported.”

“We want to make a public statement. We want the public to know we want a fair and reasonable contract,” Stacy Ashley, co-president of the Southampton Teachers Association, said.

The teachers’ contract expired Aug. 31 and they have been in negotiations with the Southampton School Committee for eight months, according to Ashley. Because the groups disagree, the association has filed for a mediator, according to a statement.

“They do have a contract — state law provides that this could happen,” Hampshire Regional School District Superintendent Aaron Osborne said Monday evening.

With no new contract, the one from the previous academic year is followed and workers maintain their benefits, according to Osborne. He acknowledged that going to mediation is not typical, but also not uncommon either.

Ashley sees these negotiations as uncommon, though.

“This is the first time in the 18 years that I’ve been here that negotiations have broken down like this … It’s never been this bad,” she said.

The School Committee’s pay offer isn’t enough, the association said. “Given the state of inflation and we’re paying more for health insurance, we’d actually be taking a hit, ” Ashley said of the pay offer.

The length of the contract is also a problem for the association. In the past, contracts have been for multiple years, but it’s a one-year contract, according to Ashley. She said they would prefer a longer agreement to avoid frequent negotiation cycles.

Osborne said the goal was to sign a three-year contract, but that it was difficult to know what the town’s finances would be like in the future.

“Given the financial landscape,” he said, “it’s hard to say what things will look like a few years down the road.”

A one-year contract then would serve as a “bridge,” he said.

On behalf of the Southampton Teachers Association, the MTA recently filed an unfair labor practice charge with the state Department of Labor Relations against the Southampton School Committee. The complaint alleges that in May — while contract negotiations were ongoing — officials made promises to the public about school salaries at a special Town Meeting in May to consider a Proposition 2½ override.

“Southampton town and school officials publicly promised voters that no town or school employees would get pay raises during the next fiscal year (unless previously negotiated),” the complaint reads.

So, none of the funds from the override would be put toward educator salaries, the complaint says. Further, it alleges that the committee didn’t tell the teachers association about the guarantee in negotiation meetings for months.

“That’s negotiating in bad faith,” Ashley said. “You can’t come to negotiation without being able to negotiate. You have to be able to come to the table and move toward the middle.”

Osborne declined to comment on the labor complaint.

Representatives from other schools showed up to support the Norris school educators on Monday, like Nellie Taylor, a high school math teacher and president of Easthampton Education Association.

“Southampton deserves a fair contract,” Taylor said. She said education funding is an issue across the state because the Legislature doesn’t allocate enough money for it.

“Cities and towns have been strapped for decades,” Taylor said.

Monday’s picket is not the first stand the association has taken recently to show its dissatisfaction with the negotiations. On Oct. 22, members started a “work-to-rule” action, meaning they only worked their contractual day that ends at 3:20 p.m., and didn’t stay for any after-school committees or activities.

“Teachers do that out of the goodness of their heart,” Ashley, a reading specialist who’s been at the school for 18 years, said.

In addition to teachers, the Southampton Teachers Association — part of the Massachusetts Teachers Association — represents people such as guidance counselors, nurses and teaching assistants.

Southampton Teachers Association members are continuing the work-to-rule action. And in weeks to come, they plan to keep picketing until the contract dispute is resolved.

Greta Jochem can be reached at gjochem@gazettenet.com