ST. IGNATIUS — Contract negotiations resumed after lawsuits forced teachers and the school board to reassess their negotiating strategies and both sides are working to repair the negotiating environment in hopes of moving forward.

"We have two large issues — the increase in pay, and the language of the contract regarding just cause," school board negotiator Andy Sever said.

In June of this year the school board was charged with an unfair labor practice after halting negotiations by implementing a contract without teacher consent.

Prior to the implementation, "We were very close," teacher and negotiator Tim Biggs said referring to the contract.

"Some of our problem is maybe we don't understand where we are at," board member Steve Allard said.

Talks began with a recap of last year's meetings to try and update everyone on the prolonged issue.

Neither side wanted to say anything during the meeting that would cause hard feelings or be unethical. The two sides then broke off, with the teachers heading for a classroom and the school board, with their larger numbers, staying in the library.

Both sides want to get this matter settled as quickly as possible and a package deal combining the last two school years was proposed by the school board.

"Everything prior to this school year we put to rest; everything from this year on we negotiate," Sever said.

The lawyer for the school board took the councils proposal back to the teachers. After conferring with teachers the lawyer then brought the information back to the council.

This went on for a number of hours until the school board decided that maybe things weren't going very far because trust had been betrayed and camaraderie needed to be rebuilt between the two groups.

Teachers wanted another meeting scheduled so that they could have time to talk over the matter and decide if a package deal was what they wanted.

The school board proposed that the two sides talk face-to-face at the next meeting without the lawyers and negotiators, just the parties in the district, hoping that maybe good old-fashioned communication will speed things along.

"We are encouraged by the progress," Tim Marchant said. "It went miles further than it has in three years. We've been wanting to negotiate like this all along, with both sides resuming their responsibilities."

It is a rare thing to be charged with an unfair labor practice, according Sever. It hasn't happened at any other negotiations he knows of.

The lawsuit is now being appealed. The school board didn't agree with some of the judge's rulings. The court will decide to grant or dismiss the appeal later this month.

Attendance at the meeting included board members David Orr, Kristy Nerby, Steve Allard, Dr. David Castor, Superintendent Tim Skinner, negotiator Andy Sever and the school board's attorney, Karl Englund.

Teachers included Tim Biggs and Tim Marchant and MEA-MFT field consultant Tom Gigstad.