EDUCATION Talks at Niles schools make 'a lot' of headway

Both sides plan to schedule another negotiating session in the coming weeks.
By SHERRI L. SHAULIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
NILES -- Representatives from both sides of contract negotiations in the city's school district said the most recent session was productive.
"We made a lot of headway," said Jim Rabbits, a field representative with the Ohio Association of Public School Employees. "We didn't sign off on anything, but it was a pretty good session."
Officials from OAPSE Local 365, which represents nonteaching staff in the schools, met with administrators and board of education members for more than four hours Thursday trying to hammer out a new contract.
The 122-member union has been working under the terms of the previous contract, which expired last year. The two sides have been at an impasse and meeting with a federal mediator since last fall.
Sticking points between the two sides are health insurance and staffing levels.
The bargaining session was the first since the union -- which represents bus drivers, secretaries, cafeteria workers and more -- voted last month to authorize its negotiating team to issue a 10-day strike notice if it saw fit to do so.
Superintendent Patrick N. Guliano said he was encouraged by the session.
"Things are going along very professionally," he said. "I'm hopeful that very soon we can come to an agreement."
Rabbits said board members and administrators listened to a union insurance proposal OAPSE believes will help the district save money. He also noted both sides talked about how staffing levels could be maintained.
Extension granted
Niles schools are under state-imposed fiscal watch status.
Because of the ongoing talks between the union and the board, the Ohio Department of Education granted the district a 30-day extension in preparing a financial recovery plan.
Once the plan is submitted, state officials will determine whether to keep the district in fiscal watch, release it from that status, or place it in fiscal emergency.
If a fiscal emergency status is designated, the state will create a financial planning and oversight commission to oversee all the school system's fiscal matters.
Rabbits and Guliano said both sides plan to schedule another negotiating session in the coming weeks.
slshaulis@vindy.com