Pressure on to Settle in District 204

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[It's been more than six months since the first contract proposals were traded between the Pinckneyville Education Association in the District 204 school system and the Board of Education.

The Pinckneyville board offered nothing new at the outset. The Pinckneyville Education Association asked added compensation under a new contract.

During Tuesday's meeting with federal mediator Barbara Rumph of St. Louis, the board came with an offer, but it wasn't enough and talks remain at an impasse.

Pinckneyville Education Association spokesman Brian Kellerman, a district custodian and a member of the association, said the meeting began shortly after 4 p.m. and ended about 6 p.m.

"We exchanged proposals with no new agreement," he said, adding that after six months the pressure is on to put this matter behind both sides.

He said the negotiating meeting included sidebars and caucuses by both sides.

The association represents 12 certified teachers, three bus drivers, two aides, two custodians and two cooks.

Kellerman said he borrows a philosophy he learned years ago at the mines from a mine foreman, "What's right is right and what's wrong is wrong."

It's a black and white principle he can't see himself straying from any time soon.

"I know both sides of this," said Kellerman, who works in the District 204 schools and sits on the board of education at another school in the Pinckneyville district.

He said the dialogue from this week's meeting will be discussed with teachers in the District 204 school at a meeting probably next Tuesday.

Kellerman said the Pinckneyville Education Association has in its hand a vote to strike option, but nobody wants to do that. And, if such a vote is approved he would hope that the stoppage could be styled so it has a minimum impact on the students themselves.

But, nobody wants a strike in one of the most respected small districts in the state. It has a huge heritage of quality education and doing nothing to harm the kids. "I get a strong feeling we need to settle and nobody wants a strike," he comments.

"We have been trying to get parents in the district to get involved in this," he said.

If not as parents, then as taxpayers, those living in the district have a right to see school remain open and children being taught. It is the taxpayers' money, not the district's or the Pinckneyville Education Association.

That in, and of, itself creates a lot of pressure to get these talks behind everyone.

"The association offer is not unreasonable," said Kellerman.

"There has not been a lot of dialogue since these talks began in June," Kellerman added.

District 204 is a rural school which sits along Rt. 154 east of Pinckneyville. It's eighth grade student body empties into the Pinckneyville Community High School district.