Section 1130.30  Mediation

a)         Mediation services will be provided at any time upon joint request of the parties.

b)         Mediation may be invoked as follows:

1)         upon request of one party or upon the Board's own motion, within 45 days prior to the scheduled start of the forthcoming school year for units containing professional instructional personnel or within 45 days prior to the scheduled expiration date of the collective bargaining agreement for units not containing professional instructional personnel;

2)         automatically by the Board, 45 days after bargaining has begun in units for which exclusive representatives have been newly certified or 15 days prior to the scheduled start of the forthcoming school year in units that contain professional instructional personnel and are represented by existing exclusive representatives or 15 days prior to the expiration date of the existing collective bargaining agreement for units that do not contain professional instructional personnel but are represented by existing exclusive representatives.  Within two days after the Board automatically invokes mediation, the parties may submit a stipulation to defer selection of a mediator.  The stipulation shall be on a form developed by the Board and shall include a provision that the parties will maintain the status quo with respect to existing terms and conditions of employment and will  not engage in a strike until at least ten days after the stipulation is withdrawn.  Either party may withdraw the stipulation at any time by giving notice to the other party and to the Board.

c)         Requests for mediation shall be in writing.  Joint requests for mediation may be made by telephone to the Board's Springfield office, but a written request, signed by both parties, shall follow as soon as physically possible.

d)         Requests and joint requests for mediation shall be on a form developed by the Board and shall include:

1)         the name, affiliation, if any, and address of the requesting party;

2)         the name, affiliation, if any, and address of the other party to collective bargaining;

3)         the date collective bargaining began;

4)         the date the existing contract, if any, is scheduled to expire; and

5)         where the unit contains professional instructional personnel, the date of the scheduled start of the forthcoming school year.

e)         When the Board receives a request from one party, it shall investigate the request.  If the Board's investigation discloses that the request was properly filed under these rules, and that the bargaining has not resulted in an agreement and the Board concludes that mediation would assist the parties, the Board shall invoke mediation.  In determining whether mediation would assist the parties, the Board shall consider such factors as the number of meetings that have occurred, the number of issues in dispute, the significance of the issues in dispute, the degree of experience of the representatives of the parties in the bargaining process, and the collective bargaining history of the parties.

f)         Whenever the Board receives a joint request for mediation, or whenever the Board invokes mediation pursuant to Section 1130.30(b)(1), or whenever the Board has not approved a stipulation to defer selection of a mediator within two days after automatic invocation of mediation, or whenever such a stipulation has been withdrawn, the Board shall submit to the parties, a panel of three proposed mediators selected from the Illinois Educational Labor Mediation Roster.  Within three days following receipt of the panel, the parties shall select one of the names on the panel or any other person they choose to serve as mediator.  Whenever the parties agree to select a mediator through the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the American Arbitration Association, or any other source, they shall notify the Board of their selection.  If the parties fail to agree on a mediator within the three day period, the Board shall appoint a mediator.

g)         The mediator may hold joint and separate conferences with the parties. The conferences shall be private unless the mediator and the parties agree otherwise.

h)         Information disclosed by a party to a mediator in the performance of mediation functions shall not be disclosed voluntarily or by compulsion. All files, records, reports, documents, or other papers prepared by a mediator shall be confidential.  The mediator shall not produce any confidential records of, or testify in regard to, any mediation conducted by the mediator, on behalf of any party to any cause pending in any type of proceeding.