McHenry County Blog

Erik Sivertsen

I’ve been remiss on looking at school board election results…probably because I don’t know as much about them as about the races about which I written.

Today I looked at McHenry Grade School District 15′s results and discovered that School Board President Ted Pillow lost by 164 votes. (This number might change a bit as absentee ballots received after the election are counted.)

I haven’t written much about the McHenry Elementary District other than when Home School Dad John O’Neill won in 2007.

O’Neill ran unopposed for a two-year term this year.

Erik Sivertsen is the man who beat the School Board President 3,208 to 3,044. The other winners were

• Kimberly Qualls with 3,686
• Amanda Geyer with 3,605
• Patrick Miller with 3,601

When last mentioned, Sivertsen had won a court case along with Cary District 26 Grade School Board member Chris Jenner to remain on the ballot for both the grade school board race and for McHenry County College.  Sivertsen placed fourth with four to be elected in the District 15 race and eighth our of nine for the MCC Board.  Jenner placed second in the race for three openings on the college board.  He withdrew his name from the District 26 contest before the court hearing.

Grade school board members will be sworn in by May 7th after the election canvass, which is taking place this week.

Both O’Neill and Sivertsen are Republican Precinct Committeemen.

The Cary Grade School Board will meet at the Junior High School on Crystal Lake Road tonight to discuss studying the advantiages and disadvantages of merging with the Fox River Grove School District.

That’s what seems to be behind this innocuous looking agenda item on the Cary District 26′s School Board Agenda tonight:

10. Topics for Discussion

10.2 Consolidation Feasibility Study

We have it on our agenda as “to discuss discussing about merging of districts,” Fox River Grove Districts 3 Superintendent Tim Mahaffy told me today.

Specifically, the Agenda says, “Consider Invitation for Involvement in an Exploration of Merging with D26.”

Interesting how Fox River Grove’s Board Agenda reveals more than does that of Cary.

Fox River Grove’s School Board is meeting tonight, too.

Most children from both elementary school districts attend Cary-Grove High School.

Could there be a second attempt to created a Unit School District in the area’s future?

Here’s the press release about the teachers’ contract which the Cary School Board ratified last night:

Cary Junior High and elementary school students will get a shorted school day after Thanksgiving.

District 26 Board Ratifies Teacher Contract
November 1, 2011

The Board of Education of Cary Community Consolidated School District 26 announced today that they have ratified a tentative agreement with the Cary Education Association (CEA) addressing all issues related to a new collective bargaining agreement.

The new three-year agreement calls for:

• Reduction in teacher compensation by 3% in the 2011-2012 school year and a pay freeze in the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 school years.  Teachers will be permitted to change lanes and “move horizontally” on the salary schedule by taking additional course work during the contract but will not receive automatic “step” or longevity increases.
• A change in the employee insurance program. Previously, the Board paid 100% of single coverage and between 20% and 50% of family coverage depending on a teacher’s years of service in the district. Under the new agreement, the Board will pay 50% of single coverage, and between 10% and 40% of family coverage depending upon a teacher’s experience in the district.
• The school day for students has been lengthened from 5 hours and 45 minutes last year to 6 hours and 15 minutes under this new agreement. Student instructional time will be increased by 30 minutes a day over last year’s amounts. The parties expect to transition to a new daily schedule corresponding to the change in the school day after the Thanksgiving holiday.
• The tuition reimbursement program under the previous collective bargaining agreement has been eliminated from the new contract.
• The retirement program under previous contract has been eliminated. Under previous agreements, eligible employees could receive up to four years of 6% increases in their last years of employment; up to $20,000 in lump sum payments following retirement; and up to $10 a day for unused sick leave.

At the start of this school year the Board had imposed contract terms for the 2011-2012 school year which provided for reductions in pay and in the insurance program greater than those agreed to as outlined above.

Through a series of meetings with a federal mediator after the start of the school year, however, the parties were able to reach agreement on all economic and language issues for a three-year contract.

The parties expect to finalize the contract language and execute an agreement as soon as possible.

Chris Spoerl, the Board President, said,

“These negotiations have taken a long time to complete — since November 2010 in fact – in large measure because of the very serious financial challenges faced by the district. These were not easy labor talks but the board is confident that the new agreement will help put the district on a more stable financial ground for the next three years.”

The Cary School District's Administrative Office.

A press release from Cary Elementary School District 26:

Board and CEA Reach Tentative Agreement on All Issues

The Board of Education of Cary Community Consolidated School District 26 and the Cary Education Association, which represents the teachers in labor negotiations, announced today that on Wednesday evening they reached a
tentative agreement on all outstanding issues.

The parties have been in negotiations since November in an effort to reach agreement on a new contract.

The previous collective bargaining agreement expired at the start of the 2011‐2012 school years.

The terms of the contract will be presented to the teachers for ratification next week and the Board of Education soon after. Details of the agreement will be released after ratification.

= = = = =

Unlike McHenry County College, which released a summary of the contract its board will approve tonight, local school boards, such as Cary’s, won’t let taxpayers know how the bulk of their taxes will be spent.  Typically, 80% of a school district’s operating expenditures go for salaries.  Some, of course, are for non-teachers, but faculty salaries make up most of that 80%.

I cannot understand why this does not disturb more people.

A press release from state Senator Pam Althoff:

Fifth Grade Students to Tour Golden Oaks Farm October 18, 19, and 20

Pam Althoff

Students from throughout McHenry County will join Illinois State Senator Pamela J. Althoff (R- Crystal Lake) for a hands-on experience at Golden Oaks Farm located in Lake County.

Three hundred and thirty fifth grade students along with teachers, administrators and parents will experience Illinois farming, milk production, animal care and composting through a visit sponsored by Sen. Althoff and What we Make by the Lake, a group compiled of Illinois Agricultural Leadership Program Class of 2012 participants.

Former Dallas Cowboy great D.D. Lewis will kick off the week by coaching students on crop nutrients, and their role in foods.  Lewis’, who will also sign autographs, visit is sponsored by Potash Corp.

The field trip to the farm is the only fifth grade field trip this year for Cary Elementary students due to continuing budget restraints.

Golden Oaks Farm, LLC was established in 1948 by the Crown Family of Chicago.  Each year the farm hosts milk enthusiasts as well as several hundred local students who are eager to learn about the dairy industry and the farm’s herd of roughly 700 milking females.

The Illinois Agricultural Leadership Program is the premier leadership program in Illinois and has provided for and strengthened agricultural leadership since its founding in 1981. Candidates, ages 25 to 49, are selected based on demonstrated leadership activities and potential, commitment to learning, and accountability to the Illinois and United States agricultural industry.

Who:              Illinois State Senator Pamela J. Althoff and What we Make by the Lake

What:             Cary Elementary School fifth grade curriculum field trip to Golden Oaks Farm

When:            October 18, 19, 20 (approximately 105 students per day)

Where:          Golden Oaks Farm, 27730 W. Bonner Road, Wauconda, IL

Here’s what’s on the web site:

The signed copy of the press release.

Joint Press Release Cary BOE and CEA
posted 5 hours ago by Caryil d26

The Board of Education of Cary Community Consolidated School District 26 and The Cary Education Association which represents the teachers announced tonight that they have reached a tentative agreement to resolve the significant financial issues between the parties and are optimistic that they can reach full agreement on all remaining issues.

The parties are set to meet next week in an effort to reach an agreement on all remaining issues.

The details of the tentative agreement will be made after the board of education and association members have ratified it.

= = = = =

Again, I would point out that taxpayers should be able to read proposed contracts before they are ratified by thr elected representatives.  In my memory only Huntley School District 158 did so and that was for the contract before last.  That was when Larry Snow was on the school board.

Marshall Lowe put political messates on his sign on Route 14. Last week's was in support of the Distrit 26 School Board.

The teachers in Cary Grade Schools are teaching.

They could be striking as the School Board imposed a contract on them.

But, they’re not striking.

They want to talk more.

The meeting is at the Cary Junior High.

= = = = =
The message on Marshall Lowe’s sign says,

DIST 26 BOARD

FOR SOME ITS A HARD

PILL TO SWALLOW BUT

STAY THE COURSE

Wednesday was the first day of school and teachers were not striking.

They were asking for more negotiations.

Here's the entrance to the Cary Grade School District's Administration Center.

Maybe there will be a meeting next week.

Even since the Huntley School Board decided to share teacher negotiation details with taxpayer-voters on its web site, I have been watching for some other district to follow suit.

Carpentersville District 300, which approved a contract without publishing its contents, just a summary,    More details were provided by Board member Joe Stevens.

But no contract.  The lawyers are working out details.  Check back after June 15th.

Will there be major changes between the board and union approval votes and the final version?

No way anyone outside the process will ever know.

So, imagine my surprise when the Cary Education Association decided to put up a web site and included negotiations’ details…at least from the teachers’ point of view.

Nothing wrong with that.

If the School Board would do something similar, the public might even be able to figure out what’s going on.

The top of the page on negotiations.

In a front page letter to parents and taxpayers, the teachers ask,

“While our stance has always been to remain within the guidelines of negotiations, we can no longer remain silent.

“The simple fact is that teachers’ working conditions are students’ learning conditions. How can our students achieve maximum success when the current environment is not conducive to learning? “

There’s more, of course.

The IEA local union points out that the state gives the school district “ten years” to dig out from under the financial problems.

Apparently stung by the impression that the high average salary paid to Cary Grade School Teachers, the web site extracts beginning salaries for those with bachelor’s and master’s degrees among McHenry County school districts. Those appear below:

54,749 – CHSD 155  (Cary Grove High School)

46,108 – Crystal Lake CCSD 47

45,324 – Riley CCSD 18

45,308 – Richmond-Burton HS 157

45,100 – Woodstock CUSD 200

44,590 – McHenry CHSD 156

43,378 – Nippersink SD 2

43,213 – Cary CCSD 26

42,997 – Prairie Grove CSD 46

41,664 – Marengo CHSD 154

41,237 – McHenry CCSD 15

41,000 – Johnsburg CUSD 12

39,815 – Harvard CUSD 50

39,655 – Fox River Grove CSD 3

39,530 – Huntley CUSD 158

39,271 – Marengo-Union E CSD 165

38,060 – Alden-Hebron CUSD 19

35,174 – Harrison SD 36

Always good to have more information.

There’s also a page comparing Cary Elementary School salaries to those outside of McHenry County.

The teachers’ web site reviews cost cutting since 2009.

Missing is cost increases going back to the year when the teachers’ union won a solid majority of the school board.

Governor Pat Quinn thinks that consolidating schools will save big money because fewer administrators would be required.

The average Crystal Lake High School District 155 teacher salary is $91,573.

Reading the Daily Herald article, I notice that no mention is made of equalizing up elementary school teacher salaries to the level paid by the overlying high school districts.

$68,489 is the average teacher salary in the Cary Grade School District, the one is such financial trouble recently.

All Quinn mentions is saving $100 million in administrative costs. That’s well under one-half of one percentage of what’s spent on schools in Illinois.

In Fox River Grove the average grade school teacher makes $60,507.

Pretty much peanuts, in other words.

In the Prairie Grove Elementary School District underlying Crystal Lake High School District the average salary is $59,840.

The Northwest Herald has bought into the argument, also incorrectly assume that consolidating hundreds of school districts in Illinois will save big money.

The largest of the District 155 feeder schools, Crystal Lake District 47, pays its teachers $57,788 on the average, according to the 2010 School Report Card.

“… there’s no good reason why towns such as Cary, Crystal Lake and McHenry should have separate elementary and high school districts.”

That’s what the Northwest Herald wrote Thursday.  (Look quickly.  Soon you will have to pay to see it.)

Might I suggest that a salary comparison be made?

Look what took me less than ten minutes to find.

High school salaries in District 155 are higher than those in Crystal Lake Grade School District 47, Cary Grade School District 26 and Prairie Grade School District 46.

Let me list them:

• Crystal Lake District 155 – $91,573 (412 teachers)
• Cary District 26 – $68,489 (198 teachers)
• Fox River Grove 3 – $60,507 (41 teachers)
• Prairie Grove District 46 – $59,840 (68 teachers)
• Crystal Lake District 47 – $57,788 (564 teachers)

The weighted average of grade school teachers in the three districts is $60,505.

The difference between the average weighted elementary school salary and the District 155 High School teacher’s average salary of $91,573 is $31,066.

Let’s do some multiplication.

First, let’s estimate. You know, what grade school students are taught to do.

What’s $31,000 times 900?

Hey, that’s over $25 million.

The exact figure is $27,058,486 my calculator says and it didn’t take tens of thousands of dollars paid to some Northern Illinois professors to figure that out.

So, let’s be rational and assume no teacher would be willing to take a pay cut and all grade school teachers would want to be put on the same salary schedule now enjoyed by area high school teachers.

Looking at these figures, it is hard to believe they would not expect an average raise of $31,000 if consolidation were to occur.

Now, I’ll admit that I have not made detailed comparisons to take into account the longevity bonus that high and grade school teachers get.

Maybe after making such adjustments the raise for unifying the pay schedules wouldn’t average over $31,000 a grade school teacher.

Pick your number and multiply it by 871.

Then, compare that mid-$20-some million number with the $100 million statewide savings that Quinn projects in savings from unneeded administrators.

Anyone think the savings by getting rid of redundant administrators within the Crystal Lake-Cary-Fox River Grove-Prairie Grove area would approach $25 million?

So why is the Governor proposing something that is going to cost every part of the state with both high and grade school districts big money?

Would I be being too cynical to suggest that Quinn may be trying to reward Illinois Education Association members who supported his re-election?

Would anyone think Illinois union leaders would let teachers in the same unified district be on two different pay scales?

The IEA Uniserve Directors would be knocking at school administrators’ doors the day after a merger.  Maybe before.

The entrance to Disney World's Fantasy Land looks so enticing, but what's beyond looks like a carnvial to me.

Proof is how teacher unions won’t allow a consolidated school district to use even two different pay scales.

The elementary physical education teacher that teaches kindergarten P.E. classes is on the same pay scale as the high school math and science teachers.

Only in editorial and Quinn Fantasy Land unions would be helping to save money.

The result would be teachers hearing the sound of “Ca Ching!”

Years later you would likely read editors bemoaning how this couldn’t have been foreseen.

But that’s what collective bargaining will bring if all school districts are shoved into the unit district mold.

It will be the result of collective bargaining. You know, what the fight in Madison, Wisconsin, is all about.