The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District and the Kenai Peninsula Education and Kenai Peninsula Education Support associations will enter advisory arbitration.
The three negotiating teams will meet prior to the arbitration process at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Kenai River Campus’s CTEC building.
“The associations invited the district to meet, and the district is very receptive to learning what the associations want to meet about,” said school district spokesperson Pegge Erkeneff. “The selection of an arbitrator and dates for arbitration are under way.”
Before the meeting, the two associations are hosting teachers rallies at 4:30 p.m. in the Central Kenai Peninsula area.
KPEA President David Brighton said gatherings will be at the “Y” intersection of the Kenai Spur Highway and the Sterling Highway in Soldotna, the intersection of Main Street Loop and the Spur Highway in Kenai, outside the George A. Navarre Administration Building in Soldotna and at the intersection of Kalifornsky Beach Road and Poppy Lane.
“We want to get the word out to the community that we are interested in a fair contract, we would really like to come to an agreement,” Brighton said. “… The district hasn’t been interested in any movement towards us as far as finding an agreement.”
The school district and associations have cited health care, benefits and salary increases as unresolved in the negotiations that began in February for teacher and support staff contracts that were set to begin on July 1.
An arbitrator will be chosen from a list provided by the American Arbitration Association. Both the associations and the school district have to agree on the final selection.
Reach Kelly Sullivan at kelly.sullivan@peninsulaclarion.com.
