At upcoming back-to-school preparation meetings, many, if not all, of Alpine School District's teachers will be wearing arm bands.
The arm bands might be yellow because teachers say they feel like hostages to the contract negotiating process, which has bogged down.Or perhaps they'll wear black bands because they are in mourning that the school board doesn't see contract issues the way they do.
Or they might wear green bands because they simply want more cash.
That was one element in a vote by about 25 percent of Alpine's teachers who met at Mountain View High School Monday. Their main point of discussion was the Alpine Education Association's decision to declare contract negotiations at an impasse.
By a large margin, assembled teachers voted not to strike - for now. School will begin as scheduled on Aug. 29.
During the debate, a teacher made the motion that everyone wear the bands to show district administrators that teachers are united in their efforts to get a better contract.
Although the motion passed by voice vote, it was close, and teachers had trouble deciding which color would best express their emotions to district administrators.
Six days ago, the Alpine Education Association declared negotiations at an impasse. They called for an outside fact-finder to decide whose position in contract negotiations is more correct.
The fact-finder should be picked by the weekend, and then return a non-binding ruling 20 days later. After that, either side has the option to take some action within five days.
Donna Lee Eisenhardt, a teacher at Mountain View High School, suggested that all the facts had been found and that teachers should take action on those facts. She said teachers often find it more difficult to walk off their jobs during the school year, so some sort of job action might be more appropriate now.
Her suggestion received little backing, however, and the motion to support the association's negotiating team and wait for a fact-finder was passed by a vote of 325 to 27.
About 1,100 of the district's 1,500 teachers belong to the association.
The teachers want an 8.3 percent increase. The district is offering 6.82 percent, which district officials say is a larger increase than average throughout the state.
But teachers' representatives counter that Alpine District has more money available than other districts and should give it to teachers.
Much of the impasse relates to the complex compromise reached by the Legislature during its session earlier this year. It included a $1,000 across-the-board increase to teachers. Alpine District and its teachers have decided to break those dollars up so that teachers higher on the pay scale receive proportionally more than newer teachers.
Much of the debate centers on whose interpretation of the Legislature's intent, and whose interpretation of how those dollars work out, is correct.