SESPA and School District unable to reach agreement

SESPA members gather at the Shoreline Center. Photo by Janet Way.

SESPA and the Shoreline School District held their first bargaining session with a state mediator on August 21-22. 

In a mediated session, the parties sit in different rooms and talk to the mediator, who carries the information back and forth.

The session went all night and ended at 4 am with no contract agreement.

SESPA bargainers asked for another bargaining session as soon as possible. The District Team said they cannot bargain until September 10, which is two weeks after the start of school.

SESPA, under the leadership of Presidents Barb Cruz and Rose Ann McLaughlin, held a rally on Monday, August 23 at 4:30 PM at the Shoreline Center with over a hundred members attending.

At this point, both parties are still willing to sit down and negotiate, but neither has wavered in their position. If SESPA agrees to the September 10 date, they will have to go to work without a contract.