No deal.

That’s the word Mike McCloud, president for the Bainbridge Island Education Support Professional Association (BIESPA), received from his bargaining team last Thursday after they met with a bargaining team from the Bainbridge Island School District

They had hoped that a marathon, 10-hour session with a mediator from the Public Employment Relations Commission would be enough to finally reach an agreement for a new classified staff contract. The previous one expired in August, and the parties have convened 12 times since last spring trying to replace it, without success, mostly due to disputes over compensation.

Classified staff maintain they haven’t had a significant pay raise in years, while district officials maintain that classified staff salaries are on par with those in other districts.

The early results of the mediation were disappointing, McCloud said Sunday.

“Although some progress was made, the offers from the district still fell short of what we feel is a fair, overdue and affordable increase in compensation,” he said.

That said, “we remain optimistic that we are close to an agreement and we are very eager to settle with the district,” McCloud later added.

A second session of mediation is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 19, but McCloud said that BIESPA is open to a quicker resolution.

The BIESPA bargaining team consists of a custodian, a maintenance worker, a food service employee, a secretary, a bus driver, three employees “with experience combining para-education and technology work,” and BIESPA vice president and para-educator Lisa Draper.

At the other end of the table sits the district’s team: Human Resources Director Lynn Stellick, Associate Superintendent Peter Bang-Knudsen, Capital Projects Director Tamela Van Winkle and Ordway Elementary School Principal Melinda Reynvann.

Bang-Knudsen said Wednesday that he shared the classified team’s optimism and is hopeful that the parties will reach an agreement soon. He added that it’s not uncommon for mediation to extend for several sessions before a tentative agreement is reached.