Negotiations about teacher contracts ceased between Omaha Education Association (OEA) and the Omaha Public Schools (OPS) Board of Education on Feb. 8 because it was declared an impasse. OEA has since preceded to file a petition on Mar. 8, with Nebraska’s Commission of industrial relations.

OEA represents 2,800 teachers, and wanted to keep a contract that benefits students, provides fair compensation for educators and ensures that OPS can keep teachers.

The current contract gives teachers a plan time during their day as well as faculty meetings. The district is looking to remove these.

“These provisions were negotiated over time to provide educators with the time necessary to plan for and to teach their students, as well as to ensure teachers have time for their personal and family life,” OEA President Robert Miller said.

The district tied any financial package to OEA, relinquishing those protections in their contract. That means teachers would be losing their plan time and their faculty meetings. The district was unwilling to negotiate that fact.

“Even through this negotiating crisis our OEA members are continuing to teach, we love teaching and learning,” Miller said. “We care about our students. Students are the reason we teach.”

OEA followed state law and requested a resolution officer to help settle the dispute between the two.

“Communication continues to take place on issues faced by teachers and students, however in regard to negotiations, communication has stopped,” Miller said.

Since the contract is in mediation, teachers are left to question what type of package they will get for the next school year. It’s the first time the contract has been mediated.

“It’s worrisome to me a little, but at the same time at least they are with mediation,” math teacher Alan Nesbitt said. “They’ll take pay from different districts and compare them and be able to maybe put a package together we’ll like. The problem is since going to mediation, we might just stick with what we get stuck with. We might not have any room to negotiate.”

Teachers and OEA hope to know by next school year the contents of the contracts and how it will effect the daily lives and education of students. OPS board of education failed to respond after multiple attempts of contact.