The Albert Lea school board and the teachers’ union did not reach an agreement on the teachers’ contract during negotiations with a mediator Thursday.

The two sides met with the mediator at Brookside Education Center from 9 a.m. until shortly after 4 p.m. And while the two sides are closer to an agreement than they were at the start of the day, a final agreement will still take more time.

“I think it might take awhile yet,” said Albert Lea Education Association President Jim Munyer. “I’m not sure how long it will take, but the significant issue still is that 403(b) language and the second-year wage situation.”

Bill Villarreal, lead negotiator with the school board, said the main unresolved issues include the 403(b) tax-sheltered annuities, the potential salary freeze and family medical leave.

“We’re closer when we left than when we started,” Villarreal said.

“It almost seems we’ve both reached the point that we don’t want to give anymore,” Villarreal added.

A second negotiation date with the mediator is possible, and only one side needs to request the second session.

Villarreal said the school board likely will meet in a closed session Monday to determine if it will request a second negotiation session with the mediator.

d where we want to go, maybe both the board and us can come up with a new resolve and continue to work hard on trying to take care of this issue.”

According to Munyer, ALEA, the teachers’ union, is willing to meet with the mediation again, but he wasn’t sure if ALEA would request that session.

ALEA negotiators will also discuss whether or not to make that request.

Munyer said another mediation session could be held sometime in September.

Villarreal said the board would only decide to continue the mediation process if they thought there was a chance of settling during that session. If they requested a second session, Villarreal said he’d like it to happen as soon as possible.

“Can we move any further? And as a board if we say, ‘No we can’t,’ then I don’t know if we’ll go to another session of mediation or not,” Villarreal said.

If neither side requests a second session, it’s possible the two sides could look into arbitration, but both sides would have to agree to the terms of that process.

At the start of the negotiations, both sides met together with the mediator and presented their side of the issues. The two sides then went to separate rooms, and the mediator, who remained neutral, met between the two sides and suggested ways to give and take.

If one of the two sides requests a second date with the mediator, the same mediator would likely return.

“The mediator probably has a pretty good sense of where both sides are coming from, and has some extensive experience in mediation before, so he knows the right questions to ask and different things, perhaps, to propose,” Munyer said.

Villarreal said he’d like to see the process move forward because as many as 10 teaching positions still hang in the balance.

“We just can’t put any more financial stress on our school district, what we were offering was for the teachers not to go backwards on what their take home pay was,” Villarreal said.

Villarreal said the board’s proposal on the 403(b) tax-sheltered annuities is better that other school districts in the Big Nine Conference. However, ALEA negotiators have said before that the teachers had to give in other areas for gains in 403(b).

Munyer also said he’s not sure how much more the teachers are currently willing to give on a contract.

“I think we’ve probably given what we want to give right now,” Munyer said. “And hopefully with a month or six weeks or two months, maybe reflecting back on where we’ve been and where we want to go, maybe both the board and us can come up with a new resolve and continue to work hard on trying to take care of this issue.”