Negotiations between Battle Ground Public Schools and the teachers union continued Tuesday after a strike vote fell 16 votes short Monday night.
A three-year contract expired Aug. 31. Teachers have been working for almost three months without a new contract.
The Battle Ground Education Association, which represents more than 825 teachers, met for nearly three hours Monday night, said Linda Peterson, association president.
Union policy states that a strike vote must be approved by two-thirds of the membership, or 66.67 percent. Monday’s meeting was attended by 507 of the 825 members. Of those in attendance, 309 voted to strike. The union needed 16 more votes to authorize a strike.
Union representatives and district officials have met several times to hammer out a contract. The parties negotiated via a state mediator from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday.
They will meet again Dec. 11 and continue working on contract language, said Rita Davidson, district spokeswoman.
Contract negotiations began in May. After more than a dozen negotiation sessions, a mediator from the state Public Employment Relations Commission was brought in. Tuesday’s meeting was the fourth mediated bargaining session.
“We have made progress in a lot of areas,” said Mark Hottowe, superintendent of Battle Ground Public Schools. “However, we still have work to do on the language part of the contract and the economic piece, as well. It’s a slow process that will take some time. There’s a lot of distance between us in some important areas.”
“The compensation piece is the challenging part of the contract language,” said Peterson of the union. “The district has a two-year proposal and the union has a one-year proposal.”
Peterson said since Monday’s meeting, she and other union representatives have fielded numerous phone calls from members.
“They’re asking us: ‘When are we going to vote again?’ ” she said.
The Columbian received a news tip that high school students in Battle Ground planned to walk out of class on Tuesday morning in support of teachers.
Rita Sanders, district spokeswoman, confirmed that 100 Prairie High School students left campus Tuesday morning, but the reason was unclear.
“They left campus,” Sanders said. “The principal guesses they left early for break. Students who are absent without parent permission will receive an unexcused absence,” she said.
“There were some reports of a possible student walkout a few days ago,” said Sean Chavez, district spokesman.
Battle Ground schools will be on Thanksgiving break from today until Monday.
