Court Opinion

ID: 9513492
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 22:36:34.310336+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:05:52.830782
License: Public Domain

VANDE WALLE, Chief Justice,
concurring specially.
[¶ 13] I concur in the majority opinion. I write separately to note that the parties, the school district and the education association, did attempt to negotiate their differences in the contract. I applaud those efforts. I previously expressed dismay over the failure of a school district and an education association to use the negotiation act to resolve their differences over a contract. Williston Educ. Ass’n v. Williston Public School Dist. 1, 483 N.W.2d 567, 572-73 (N.D.1992)(VandeWalle, J., concurring specially). Here the parties did bring the issue to the bargaining table. The current negotiation statutes do not require that an agreement must be reached. Fargo Ed. Ass’n v. Fargo Public Sch. Dist, 291 N.W.2d 267 (N.D.1980). Although the negotiations were not successful, the parties did attempt what I assume to be good-faith negotiations before this action was instituted. I hope the lack of success in this instance does not deter future attempts to resolve disputes through the negotiation process before resorting to legal action. The parties, not the courts, are in the best position to resolve these issues.
[¶ 14] Gerald W. Vande Walle, C.J.