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Teachers reject latest offer from district

by Jill Darby

Talk about being stuck in a rut.

The Lake Tahoe Unified School District and the South Tahoe Educators Association have been engaged in teacher salary negotiations since 1998.

The March 3 mediation session ended much like the others – resolution free.



The district’s counterproposal to the teachers’ Feb. 18 proposal was “not even close” to acceptable, according to South Tahoe Educators’ Association President Mike Patterson.

“There was no progress at all,” Patterson said. “The mediator did not set a date to come back.”



LeAnne Kankel, a member of the district’s negotiating team said they intend to continue the mediation process until an agreement is reached.

“We don’t have another mediation date scheduled, but it’s our belief that mediation is still going,” Kankel said. “At this point we’re just waiting and it’s our intent to continue working through mediation.”

Both Patterson and Kankel said they are not at liberty to discuss details of the March 3 session per mediator David Gilb’s request.

“We’ve been asked by the mediator to confine our discussion to the mediation process,” Kankel said.

According to Kankel, Gilb decides how long mediation will continue and when the next session will be.

But the light at the end of the tunnel looks fairly dim from both angles.

“We did not receive an agreement (from the teachers) nor did we receive a counterproposal at this point,” Kankel said.

Patterson said he isn’t sure where things will go from this point.

“The next step is for me to talk to the teachers,” Patterson said. “I’m going to let them know what happened in mediation and see what they want to do from there.”


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