The last round of contract negotiations with Old Rochester Regional Junior High and High School teachers was a long battle lasting almost two years that had teachers picketing a School Committee meeting and going a year and a half without a contract.

This time around, everyone is hoping for a more civil and expedient process, aided by an eight-hour training session on “interest-based bargaining” that is designed to address previous issues, facilitate collaboration and improve communication between union leaders and administrators.

“Last time obviously took a long time,” said Dr. Colin Everett, president of the teachers’ union. “We had some periods where we weren’t communicating at all. We had one period where we went ten months and only met a handful of times, largely because the School Committee didn’t want to meet with us.”

Everett said his union suggested the free training offered through the Massachusetts Education Partnership.

“We wanted to try a different approach to see if we could get a better outcome,” he said.

Superintendent Doug White said state teacher and superintendent associations support the training, which encourages both sides to work together on the issues.

The traditional method is more of a win-lose situation with one side submitting a proposal that is countered by the other side. The interest-based method has the sides discuss an issue, looking for mutually beneficial solutions.

“Both sides give their opinion, and then you come up with a resolution about how that would be better for all involved,” said White.

Healthcare was a major hitch in the previous negotiations, which were resolved in 2013. What issues are on the table this time are likely to remain unknown due to the closed door nature of negotiations.

Union members and the school committee have already gone through half of the interest-based training since meetings began at the end of January.

White said he hopes to have a contract agreed on by both sides when school resumes in the fall. Contracts for junior high and high school teachers expire at the end of August.