Teachers, district go before ERMB in June

MINDEN - Douglas County teacher contract negotiations will go to a hearing of the Employee Relations Management Board in June.

Board commissioner Sherry Thomas said the board has 120 days after the June 8 hearing in which to issue a decision.

Douglas school district personnel director John Soderman said both sides have an opportunity to file motions for 20 days after the board presents its decision.

The board could dismiss both claims and tell everyone to go back to the bargaining table or could tell everyone to go into mediation or binding arbitration.

"They'll decide if anyone was bargaining in bad faith or not and they may tell us to go to an arbitrator or go back to the bargaining table," Soderman said. "They can't solve our contract issues, but they can tell us to go back to the table."

Soderman said the board is usually composed of three people based in Las Vegas who will hear from attorneys representing both sides.

Soderman said Bob Cox is representing the DCSD before the board and Sandra Lawrence is representing the teachers.

According to Soderman, a starting teacher with no experience and a bachelor's degree starts at $28,446 before taxes in Douglas County. At the other end, a teacher with 20 years or more of experience and a master's degree plus 32 credits earns $52,224 a year. A teacher with a doctorate earns $52,724.

All 458 teachers in the district also receive a 20 percent benefits package that includes health, accident insurance and retirement pay.

The teachers' contracts were up June 30. Language in the contract and state law does not allow the teachers to strike. The "evergreen" language calls for all teachers to continue to work under the conditions of the expired contract until a new agreement is made.

Negotiations started in March 1999 and the district claims the association did not meet the legal number of times - four - before declaring impasse.

The association promptly filed a counter claim alleging violations due to the district's refusal to discuss ground rules and the district's insistence that the association hand over its proposals first.

Motions filed by the association Jan. 31 and Feb. 22 to force the district into binding arbitration and for an expedited hearing were denied.

The district's motion, filed March 6, asked for dismissal of parts of the association's counterclaim. It was also denied by the ERMB March 28.