Little Progress Made in 109 Teacher Talks

With little progress made Wednesday night in contract talks between the (DEA) and , a declaration of impasse is not out of the question, according to union President .

“No significant progress was made on major issues between the two parties,” Jensen said. “The Deerfield Education Association is very disappointed in the results of tonight’s meeting.”

The teachers have been working on an expired contract since August and the two sides have been negotiating through a federal mediator since October. Their next session is March 15 with two more dates set in April.

“All of our options are open,” Jensen said when asked by Patch if the union could declare an impasse before March 15. “The decision has not been made.”

School Board member , a part of the District’s negotiating team, did not dispute Jensen’s characterization of Wednesday’s session.

“It’s slow,” Schwartz said of the progress. “We got a little closer on the economics but we’re still a ways apart.”

In an effort to speed things up, the DEA gave the District its counterproposals on the three major issues—compensation, teacher evaluation and special education—prior to Wednesday’s session. The District’s representatives responded with counter offers of their own at the meeting.

“We talked about the various issues but there was no conclusion,” Schwartz said. “They gave us no response yet.”

Should either side declare an impasse, the DEA and the District have seven days to present their last and final offer, according to Jensen. After that the mediator has seven days to make the positions public. The parties have another 14 days after that to reach an agreement before a strike can be called, according to Jensen.