Nearly a year after their previous contracts expired four more groups of district employees settled for the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 school years, according to director of business services Sandy Salin.

The School Board approved contracts for the Clerical/Secretarial Association of Park Schools (CAPS), SPARK and Community Education Coordinators May 12. The Board also approved the Professional/Technical Personnel employment contract May 27.

CAPS lead negotiator Bridgett Phimister said the group filed for mediation before settling this spring, meaning its representatives met with District representatives and a mediator at a central location.

According to Phimister, this year marks CAPS’ first time filing for mediation during negotiations, which it did because of a lack of communication.

“We went from 48 members to 34 and all those tasks were absorbed by the remaining staff members,” Phimister said. “(During negotiations) we were working very hard to communicate to them ‘look at what’s happened in the last 10 years.’ The tasks were different than what we’re doing now.”

According to Salin, it is not usual for a group in St. Louis Park to file for mediation.

“We went to mediation a couple of times, and the last time we settled on a contract. It’s not normal to have mediations,” Salin said. “Since I’ve been here this is the first one. It involves meeting with a mediator and bringing in a third party.”

Phimister said negotiations were completed more quickly after the group filed for mediation and appeared before the School Board and superintendent at a School Board meeting.

They now finished contract negotiations and there is a plan to review job descriptions.

“The contract and job descriptions didn’t mesh with each other and the district agreed to work with us to create descriptions that do match the payscale in the contract,” she said.

According to Salin, members of the district will decide how to evaluate the job descriptions, which will impact future negotiation periods.

“The job descriptions are being evaluated at their request. It is being determined at a district level how to do that,” she said. “It involves taking a look at them and being ready for the next negotiations based on how they’re evaluated.”

Marcey Edgar, who helps negotiate for the group for paraprofessionals, SPARK, said the negotiations went very well for her group this year.

“I’ve done negotiations 11 times, and this was by far the easiest session I’ve ever had,” she said. “Our people are pretty satisfied about getting a salary increase, a step up (in the payscale) and retroactive pay.”

Similarly, assistant to the principal Carol Johnson, who is represented by CAPS, said she is glad her group settled because it shows the employees are valued.

“We felt appreciated because we got a similar settlement to what other groups received,” Johnson said. “It was more even across contracts and I felt we got a fair settlement.”