PEABODY — Bundled-up teachers circled City Hall yesterday airing their frustration that their contract has gone three weeks unsigned.

Since the teachers ratified the agreement Oct. 29, one condition of the contract has emerged as a stumbling block, said the School Committee's negotiator David McGeney.

"The reason is that the terms ratified by the teachers we agree (on) 99.9 percent, but there was a condition in there that we did not agree to," he said. "In the whole scheme of things, it's a relatively small item from a monetary standpoint. That is the holdup."

He would not say what the specific condition was.

McGeney said both sides created a joint statement of agreement in principle, but the terms needed to be worked out. He said union leaders essentially took the contract to their members before double-checking the numbers.

"That's why the terms of this should have been agreed upon with attorneys before that happened," he said. "We need to make sure the i's are dotted and t's are crossed, that sort of thing."

McGeney hoped the issue could be resolved soon because the economy wasn't improving.

"We hope to have it behind us," he said. "We'll try to get it resolved, and I'm sure we will. We're not there yet."

Union President Bruce Nelson disagreed with McGeney's version of events. He was among the hundreds of teachers yesterday protesting.

"If there was an item that had not been agreed to, why did we shake hands and look each other in the eye and congratulate each other at one in the morning?" he said of the end of contract talks. Nelson said that if he had any doubt there were still issues to be resolved, his negotiator would not have returned a package to the union for approval.

Union and school leaders met Friday morning to discuss the issue, but no additional meetings have been planned, both sides said yesterday.