close

Ringgold hires negotiator for teacher contract talks

2 min read

Ringgold School Board Wednesday hired a professional negotiator to guide contract negotiations with district teachers who threatened to walk off the job.

The board hired negotiator Carl Beard from the Altoona law firm Andrews & Beard at a cost of $165 an hour to assist with its efforts to reach a contract with the district’s 227 teachers.

“He helps to take the emotions out of it,” said board Vice President William Stein Jr., who is leading the negotiations for the district. “We believe this will help us get to the position we want to take, and that is approving a contract.”

The teachers, who are working under a contract that expired last year, authorized their negotiators in February to call a strike if talks reach a stalemate.

That decision does not guarantee a strike will take place.

Stein said the decision to hire Beard was not a result of an impasse. He said Beard also was brought in to help reach a contract with the teachers in 2005.

“We want to get this done,” he said.

Both sides in the negotiations agreed to not discuss in public the details of what each has been bringing to the table.

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $3.75/week.

Subscribe Today