GRAY — When school opens Wednesday for Regional School Unit 15’s nearly 2,000 students, teachers will be working without a contract for the second year in a row.

Superintendent Bruce Beasley said Tuesday, “We are still working on it. I am hopeful for an agreement soon. It’s a confidential negotiation and I don’t want to get involved with intimate details. We are so close. I want this to be settled and hope it will.” 

Michelle Adler, president of the Gray-New Gloucester Teachers’ Union that oversees the contract for the roughly 160 teachers, said Tuesday that she expects a development Thursday.

Martha Bartlett of New Gloucester, a second-grade teacher at Memorial School, said Tuesday, “I’m anxious to see the children and hope for a positive school year ahead. I’m ready to go, but not having a contract is frustrating.”

Adler confirmed that the district faced a large number of teacher resignations this summer. She said the lack of a contract might have led teachers to consider their options.