DALLAS — More than a half dozen leaders from the teachers' and principals' unions met Monday to put together a recommendation for Dallas ISD administrators to make sure that any proposed reduction in force — or "RIF" — is fair and follows district policy.

"I think this has dramatically changed in the last 24 hours,” said Aimee Bolender, president of the AFT/Alliance union which boasts 9,000 of the district’s 11,000 teachers. “I think the superintendent will embrace a proposal by us. I don't say he'll accept everything."

Bolender said she met with DISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa on Sunday to discuss these concerns.

The unions demand that seniority is considered. Veteran teachers worried the district's recent plan put them in its crosshairs to be laid off.

Second, and just as importantly, the layoffs must be district-wide, not campus by campus, the unions said.

The unions met Monday to create a proposal for Hinojosa on how the layoffs should happen, and which teachers should be affected.

"Not knowing whether you're going to have a job in a week or two tends to stress them out and they don't sleep, but they're still showing up and taking care of our children every day," said Dale Kaiser, President of NEA Dallas.

The school board meets Thursday afternoon for a third time to consider eliminating 1,209 positions, including 675 teachers, in an effort to help the district climb out of an estimated $83-million deficit.

The mechanics of the union proposal are still being worked out.

Leaders of AFT, NEA, and Dallas School Administrators Association insist they'll take legal action if layoffs aren't fair and fail to follow district policy.

The unions hoped to take their recommendations to the superintendent on Monday afternoon.

E-mail jwhitely@wfaa.com