No Deal: District 181, Teachers' Union Headed to Mediation

Community Consolidated School District 181 and the Hinsdale-Clarendon Hills Teachers' Association (HCHTA) will enter mediation in early August after the two sides failed to reach an agreement on a new contract during two rounds of negotiations in the last year, according to a release sent out by the district Monday.

The current three-year contract with the HCHTA expires on August 24. 

According to the release, the district and the union had a series of negotiation meetings between March and June 2011 after the first negotiation period in July 2010.

District 181 Board of Education President Michael Nelson was quoted in the release as saying that the board wanted to begin mediation in July, but the HCHTA is not available until August. 

“The Board is committed to reaching an agreement that is fair to all parties: the teachers, the school district and the community,” Nelson said.

According to an email from Associate Superintendant Mary Ticknor, mediation is a process where representatives of the district and union gather in separate rooms at the same location. The mediator is someone obtained from the Illinois Education Labor Relations Board (IELRB) that both sides agree on. 

"The mediator goes between each group, attempting to find common ground in order to move each party closer to agreement," Ticknor's email read. "Mediation is not arbitration, where binding decisions are made by a third party."   

The associate superintendant said a mediator has been selected for the District 181-HCHTA mediation, but she was not able to disclose his or her identity.  

on new to district-union negotiation rules included in the Illinois education reform signed into law last month. 

According to Ticknor, the new rules say that after 15 days of mediation, an impasse can be declared. Both sides will then have seven days to exchange final offers, which are then held by the mediator for another seven days. If no agreements are reached between the union and the district by then, the mediator will send both best offers to the Illinois Education Labor Relations Board to be posted publicly on the board’s website for 14 days.

If no agreement is reached during those 14 days the board would impose its last best offer and teachers can strike with a 10-day notice of intent.

According to District 181, updates will be provided on the district's website after each mediation session.

"To allow the Boardʼs Negotiating Team to focus on the process, additional comment or interviews cannot be accommodated," the release read.