Jeffrey Sultanik was quoted in the Lehigh Valley Live article “Saucon Valley School Board Makes New Contract Offer to Teachers.” Full text can be found in the February 26, 2015, issue, but a synopsis is below.

Saucon Valley teachers returned to the bargaining table to hear a state mediator present the school board’s latest contract offer.

No board members attended the session because the mediator is utilizing “shuttle bargaining,” where the mediator talks to one side, presents the other side’s issues and brings back a response later, said school board attorney, Jeffrey Sultanik.

“It is often done in, probably in more difficult bargaining situations, so the mediator can try to facilitate a settlement,” Sultanik noted. “You don’t have to be in the same room to bargain.”

Sultanik declined to reveal the terms of the board’s latest offer, calling it “expressly confidential” at this time. The board has indicated it will keep the details of the offer under wraps until March 13. At that point, the board might opt to make it public, Sultanik said.

When asked why the board has brought forth a new proposal, Sultanik said:

“At the encouragement of the state mediator, the board has recast a new proposal that we believe is an extremely serious proposal on the part of the board and represents, what we hope, will be the proposal that will bring the parties to a tentative agreement.”

The board hopes the union leadership takes the latest proposal back to its membership for a thorough analysis, Sultanik said.

Originally published by Lehigh Valley Live.