Eastbayri.com

Warren — They’ve tried to reach consensus, but teachers’ union and administration officials from the Bristol Warren Regional School District will likely head to mediation to resolve contractual sticking points that one involved called “a ways apart.”

The contract under which hundreds of Bristol Warren teachers work expired last year, and the school committee’s lead negotiator, John Saviano, said he foresees a long road ahead before another three-year pact is signed.

“The movement is very slow,” he said Tuesday. “We’re a ways apart. We had great hopes that this was going to be done soon, but I guess that was just a dream.”

Mr. Saviano said he and the state educational union’s lead negotiator, John Leidecker, recently agreed on a mediator to help the two sides resolve their differences. Who that mediator is, though, he won’t say until the process begins.

Mr. Leidecker, negotiator for the Rhode Island chapter of the National Education Association (NEARI), was recently found guilty of cyberstalking by a Superior Court judge. Though some, including his target, former Bristol/Warren Representative Doug Gablinske, have called for him to step aside as negotiator now that the court has spoken, that won’t happen.

Instead, he’s been promoted. Once Mr. Leidecker finishes these negotiations, he will step aside as a “UniServe,” the union’s name for one who negotiates contracts across the state, and will step in as Deputy Executive Director of NEARI. Once he leaves, the plan is to make Linda LaClair, a long-time librarian at the Kickemuit Middle School who now works for NEARI, the district’s new UniServe.

Ms. LaClair, who used to live in Bristol but now resides in Providence, said she’s looking forward to the opportunity to work in the district. She knows many of the players and has fond memories of her 15 years in the district.

She acknowledged the troubles facing the district and union in negotiating a new contract. But she said many of them have less to do with a culture of mistrust in the district, as they do external forces.

“The reason we’re having such difficulties is the enormous loss due to the state’s funding formula,” which will see state education aid in Bristol Warren drop by millions over the next decade.

“This was a terrible formula; it did nothing good. If we don’t figure something out, it’s going to be devastating for Bristol Warren. We are trying to do our part.”

Hopefully, she said, the two sides can come together and find a solution.