After about 28-hours of negotiating, the Eagle Point School District and teachers’ union called it quits around six o’clock Tuesday evening.
They aren’t expected to meet again until Thursday at 10 in the morning.
“We know that there is a compromise in here somewhere. A couple of times we thought we found it,” said John Harding, Bargaining Chair for the Eagle Point Education Association (EPEA).
It was the first full day of contract negotiations in the midst of a strike and it ended with no major resolution.
But the two sides did agree on one sticking point.
“They’ve come to an agreement on subcontracting out our buses, leaving classroom instructional minutes still on the table and prorating our classified’s insurance is still on the table,” said Dave Carrell with the EPEA.
“I believe both teams worked really hard to get some resolution,” said Michael Remick, HR Director for the Eagle Point School District.
As negotiations were underway on Tuesday, as many as 200 district employees took to the streets with signs in hand. They picketed all day.
“There’s a dark cloud over this district right now and I don’t know when that’s going to lift but i’ll do everything I can when I get back in the classroom to lift that cloud and to keep the kids motivated,” said Mckael Kenfield, an Eagle Point High School science teacher.
Teachers and their students say they want to be back in the classroom. However, it won’t happen until the union and district reach a compromise…which after 14-months of negotiating hasn’t happened yet.
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