When Pat Bluett, director of the Duquesne-West Mifflin Boys and Girls Club, opened the club doors at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, she found a flood of children outside waiting to get in.

You should have seen the kids running down the street to get here," Ms. Bluett said.

Tuesday was the first day of a teacher strike in the district that left many children home alone while their parents were at work.

While the club runs a day program during the summer, it is funded only for an afterschool program during the school year.

Now, Ms. Bluett is trying to find a way to open the club, located just blocks from the Duquesne Education Center, during the day.

"I do have a lot of people in the community trying to find volunteers and I've been calling other social service agencies trying to find some funding," she said.

She's hoping to either get enough volunteers who can work from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily or come up with enough money to pay her staff so that elementary children in Duquesne will have someplace to go for the duration of the strike.

Ms. Bluett said the club serves a hot meal at dinnertime to children from the community, but she's hoping to get an earlier meal served during the strike.

Normally, all of the district's pupils receive a free breakfast and lunch since 95 percent of them qualify for free meals.

The district's 50 teachers hit the picket lines Tuesday, leaving the 520 students in grades K-8 at the Duquesne Education Center, outside of their classrooms.

It's uncertain how long the strike will last though state education officials say it could go on as long as Oct. 7, under Act 88, which governs teacher strikes.

Both sides in the dispute appear unwilling to budge on their stances:

Union members, saying they are tired of being the lowest paid teachers in the county at the same time the state board of control significantly increased administrative salaries in the district. Their average salary is about $44,000 annually, and they want a 19 percent raise.

But the district, represented by solicitor William Andrews and officials of the Allegheny Intermediate Unit, which is managing the district this year, say they can't afford to offer more than a 3 percent raise. They point out that the average household income in Duquesne is $25,898.

No new talks are scheduled in the dispute.

Michael Race, deputy press secretary for the state Education Department, said under Act 88, a union's initial strike must end in enough time for the school district to complete its required 180 days of instruction by June 15 or the date scheduled for the end of the district's academic year, whichever is longer.

For Duquesne, that means the current strike must end by Oct. 7.

Then, if the union and administration still have not reached a settlement, both sides must enter mandatory, nonbinding arbitration, Mr. Race said.

If either side rejects the arbitration decision, another strike can be held. The second strike must end in time for the district to get its 180 days of instruction by June 30.

Ms. Bluett said parents are frustrated at the work stoppage and worried about leaving children unsupervised during the day.

"Parents were calling here this morning and saying 'What are you going to do?' " Ms. Bluett said. "I just can't be in here myself with all of the kids."

Butch Santicola, a staff representative of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, said the Duquesne teachers on the picket line are getting support from parents in the community. Parents are coming up and talking to them, he said.

One of those parents is Lisa Coulter-Neal, who has four children in the district.

"I can see where the teachers are coming from. I'm in support of the teachers, honestly. I believe they should be being paid more than what they are being paid," Mrs. Coulter-Neal said.

Cynthia Adams, who also has four children in the district, is angry that the two sides didn't work out a settlement before school started.

"I can't blame the teachers for doing what they are doing. I just wish they did it on their own time. I wish they had taken care of this over the summer instead of waiting this long," Ms. Adams said.

The Rev. Samuel Chambers, pastor of Payne Chapel A.M.E. Church said he understands both sides of the dispute but that he wishes it could be settled with the children in the classrooms.

"These children have taken some serious blows in the past and now that everything is coming together we hope they can get back into school and get started on their education," the Rev. Chambers said.

DeWayne Tucker, a longtime member of the elected school board, said he didn't want to offer any opinions on the strike since the elected school board members have not been included in any of the decision making by the state board of control.

But, Mr. Tucker said, he is sad that the Duquesne children are out of the classroom.

"I'm sorry for what they are doing to those kids. They are not getting an education," he said.