The Camas School District and Camas Education Association could be in for a tense August after their most recent bargaining session left the two sides in disagreement, with union officials saying they’re prepared for a strike on Aug. 27 if negotiations haven’t progressed.

The district and union met Wednesday for a bargaining session to discuss teacher salaries, but Mark Gardner, Camas Education Association lead negotiator and past president, said it was “disheartening” meeting. This was their third bargaining session, and first one where the union could see a counter offer from the district. Another meeting is tentatively scheduled for early August.

“It was underwhelming,” Gardner said. “We went in with higher expectations than what we were met with.”

He declined to get into specifics, but said the offer was essentially a “freeze from the 2017-2018 to next year” with few teachers seeing raises.

Camas is just one of many county and state unions embroiled in heated negotiations with school districts this summer. The Washougal Association of Educators went vocal with issues in their negotiating process recently, and previously voted to give the bargaining team permission to call a strike vote if things don’t improve.