Opinion ID: 2087409
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: this court's decision in hyannis i

Text: The Association and the District were unable to reach a negotiated agreement for the 2002-03 contract year. As a result, the Association filed a petition with the CIR. This court set forth all the relevant facts in its decision in Hyannis Ed. Assn. v. Grant Cty. Sch. Dist. No. 38-0011 (Hyannis I), [1] and such facts will be repeated here only as necessary. In its order in Hyannis I, the CIR accepted the Association's array of comparable districts and determined that the salary schedule from the parties' 2001-02 contract should be utilized in setting the District's base salary and salary schedule for the 2002-03 contract year. The CIR also concluded that issues relating to fringe benefits were moot and, further, that it could not consider whether it was proper to include a deviation clause in the agreement unless it was presented with an array of deviation clauses identical in their terms. Both the Association and the District appealed. While this court affirmed the order of the CIR in most respects, [2] we reversed the order with respect to the CIR's authority regarding the inclusion of a deviation clause. We concluded that [a] valid prevalence analysis does not require as a prerequisite a complete identity of provisions in the array. Rather, prevalence involves a general practice, occurrence, or acceptance, as determined by the CIR. We conclude that the portion of the CIR's order stating that it could not consider the parties' dispute over the inclusion of the deviation clause is contrary to law. Accordingly, given the facts, we reverse that portion of the CIR's order declining to consider the deviation issue and remand the cause to the CIR for consideration of the deviation issue under a prevalence analysis. [3]