Having declared impasse in contract negotiations, the United School Employees of Pasco has asked the district administration to enter mediation as a path to quicker resolution than taking their arguments to a magistrate.

The School Board has said that's just fine.

"We have said yes," Terry Rhum, the district's lead negotiator, told the Gradebook. "We're interested in doing whatever we can do to get where we need to be."

Rhum also has asked the USEP to return to the table to discuss exactly
where their positions diverge, although he admitted the board had given
him nothing new to offer: "To promise something that you cannot deliver
is not an option for us."

USEP president Lynne Webb welcomed the district's willingness to mediate.

"I'm hoping it will help us move the process along, because certainly
the process wasn't working with them handing proposals across the
table," Webb told the Gradebook.

She wasn't much interested in another sit-down outside mediation,
though, suggesting that would simply delay the movement toward a
resolution on pay and benefits.