A press release from Carpentersville Unit District 300:

Teacher Union Negotiations Update

Negotiations between the Community Unit School District 300 Board of Education and the District 300 teachers’ union are scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday, Oct. 16, and we are hopeful that we will continue to make progress toward resolution.

Things were normal at Lake in the Hills Elementary School this morning.

Listed below are questions that our school community may have regarding a potential teachers’ strike:

What is a strike vote?

When a teachers’ union conducts a strike vote, or ratifies a resolution to authorize a strike, this does not necessarily mean that there will be a teachers strike within the district. A strike authorization vote gives the union’s negotiating team the right to declare a strike if they deem it necessary.

A teachers’ strike can only occur after impasse has been declared, and this has not yet occurred in District 300. We remain optimistic that we will not be forced to implement contingency strike plans that cause disruption not only to the educational process, but to the lives of District 300 families and community members.

How does a strike occur?

After proclaiming negotiations unsuccessful, a teachers’ union may declare impasse. After this, the union notifies the Board of Education and then files a motion with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board [IELRB].

The teachers’ union and the Board of Education then have seven calendar days to submit their last, best offers and the detailed costs associated with proposals to the IELRB. After that, the IELRB has another seven calendar days to review and post these proposals on its web site.

By law, any Illinois teachers’ union must wait a minimum of fourteen days after the final offers have been made public through the IELRB web site before engaging in a strike. In summary, the earliest a teachers’ union strike could occur is twenty-eight calendar days after impasse has been declared.

District officials will make every effort to keep the D300 community informed via web site postings as information becomes available.