Here are some of the sticking points in a contract dispute between the Danville school board and the Danville Education Association:

• Raises: Association officials said the board wants an across-the-board wage freeze, but they don't think that's fair to some employees, including some who make $12,000 a year.
• Retirement incentives: Staff who notify the district of their retirement three years in advance go off the salary schedule but receive a 6 percent increase each of those years. But association officials said the board wants to eliminate that.
• Staffing: Association officials said the deep staff cuts that were made during a reduction in force has created larger classrooms. "We already have a large number of classrooms which are over (contractual) limits," said Robin Twidwell, the association president.
• School nurses: Association members said the board wants to replace them with noncertified, less-experienced personnel to save costs. Twidwell said that was a sticking point in the last contract, and the board said it would discuss that issue.

"It hasn't been resolved," she said.

• Employee safety: Association officials said a teacher was injured by a student last year, but the board refuses to discuss putting better measures in place.

Both Superintendent Mark Denman and school board President Bill Dobbles denied that the school environment is dangerous to students or staff.

"Our schools are absolutely safe," Dobbles said, adding the Ownership in Education manual, which outlines student discipline, is an example for other schools in the state.