EAST PROVIDENCE — Members from each side were “optimistic” or “confident a fair contract can be reached” after all sat down late last week to discuss the ground rules for the upcoming city teacher contract negotiations.

The current multiyear pact, which doesn’t expire until Oct. 31, covers about 500 teachers and has been contentiously debated for the last few years. Many residents blame the School Department’s more-than $3.2-million deficit on provisions within the contract.

With hopes that early talks could aid the city’s financial woes, the two groups met last year and traded new contract possibilities. The meetings ended in a stalemate that fall.

“What I have to reference is discussions we had last year, so what I saw this time was a great first step,” School Committee member Robert Faria said. He is on the district’s negotiating team with committee member Anthony Carcieri, human-resources director Lonnie Barham, assistant Supt. Edward Daft, the school district’s legal counsel, and Schools Supt. Mario Cirillo, who was appointed Sunday.

Faria continued, “When I left [last Thursday], I was pleasantly surprised and optimistic. We could achieve great things.”

The outgoing local teacher-union president Roberta Brady, a second-grade teacher and former kindergarten educator at Waddington Elementary School, was equally positive. Although she will remain on the union’s board, her term as president expires at the end of this month. The new president will be Valarie Lawson, a social-studies teacher at the high school. Brady served in that position for the past seven years.

“We’ve always been willing to talk and listen,” Brady said. “My expectation is we will be bargaining in good faith. Negotiations are hard, but I am certain we will be successful in attaining a fair contract. I’m sure that’s the desire by both parties.”

She continued, “… It will be a challenge, but we’ve always done our jobs.”

Neither discussed with The Journal any specific contract provisions and terms on and off the table. The most contentious subject, dating to city political campaigns two years ago, has been that the city’s educators are the only teachers in Rhode Island who do not pay a percentage of their medical-insurance costs.

Another aspect of their contract, health-insurance “buybacks,” has also been a subject for heated debate. The provision allows teachers to receive up to $5,100 if they choose not to take coverage under the school’s health-insurance plan. The stipulation costs the city about $660,000 a year and the matter is being litigated.

The next negotiation session has not been scheduled. A tentative date next week, Aug. 25, had to be canceled because all who needed to attend couldn’t.

apina@projo.com