McHenry County Blog

District 300 teachers show the public that they are striking by carrying picket signs on Randall Road.

Below is a press release from District 300 about the ratification of the contract that came about after a one-day teachers strike.

If you would like to read highlights I picked out of the over 100-page contract, including salary information in dollar amounts amounts,  you can do so here.

If you would like to delve deeper into the 40,000+ word contract, you can find it here.

Board and Teachers’ Union Approve 3‐Year Contract

The Community Unit School District 300 Board of Education (Board) and Local Education Association District 300 (LEAD 300) have approved a 3‐year contract for the time period from July 1, 2012, to June 30, 2015.

The membership of LEAD 300 ratified the contract yesterday (Dec. 19), and the Board voted to approve the contract this evening (Dec. 20).

Contract negotiations focused on several issues that will positively impact the students’ learning environment by lowering class sizes and improving teachers’ working conditions.

The Board and LEAD 300 mutually understand best practices regarding class size and the direct impact these practices have on education.

The Board agrees to make class size a priority and make every effort to keep class sizes at a reasonable number.

To that extent, the Board and LEAD 300 have agreed to form a joint class size committee to monitor class sizes across the district.

Beginning with the 2013‐2014 school year, class sizes will generally be as follows:

The agreement includes a modification of the high school day from eight, 45‐minute periods plus a 30‐minute
lunch, to nine, 45‐minute periods, one of which is a lunch period.

This alteration allows for consistency in both teacher and student schedules, and also makes it possible for students to have greater flexibility in course selection.

Administration and LEAD 300 will create several committees whose representative membership will work
toward creating a collaborative structure for addressing the ongoing needs of District 300 staff and students. The focus of these committees will include:

• A Class Size Committee that will monitor class size and continue to explore options to reduce class sizes in order to create academically sound environments within budgetary and facility constraints
• Collaborative Councils for each instructional level and education services that will help maintain open communication and explore solutions to ongoing issues
• An Insurance Committee that will monitor District‐wide insurance plans and costs in order to ensure fiscal responsibility while maintaining appropriate levels of employee benefits
• A Performance Evaluation Reform Act [PERA] Committee that will create and monitor the procedures for evaluations of certified staff to ensure quality educators for all students in the District
• A joint committee that will help create a more collegial, supportive workplace environment, free from harassment and bullying through policy and procedural changes

The average salary increase for the 3‐year contract will be as follows:

• 2012‐2013: Step plus 1%
• 2013‐2014: Step only
• 2014‐2015: Step plus 1%

“Step” refers to movement on the existing salary schedule and varies depending on employees’ years of service and education, but on average it equals 2%.

Beginning with the 2013‐2014 school year, LEAD 300 retirement benefits will decrease from a 6% adjustment for each of the last four years of service to 3%. The benefit will sunset as of 2015.

Once formatting has been completed for printing purposes, the full contract is anticipated to be available on the Human Resources page of the district website, www.d300.org, by mid‐January 2013.

The instructional day missed on Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2012, due to the strike will be made up at the end of the school year.

This means that unless any emergency/snow days are used this school year, the last day of school will be Wednesday, May 22, 2013.

Today, Carpentersville District 300 teachers were voting on whether to ratify the contract recently negotiated by the LEAD300 union folks and the school board.

You can read the entire contract here, complete with red color to indicate last minute changes.

The most interesting last minute change in the contract is seen below:

High school teachers (excluding PE and music) teaching a sixth (6^th) assignment for the 2012-2013 school year shall receive a one-time, extra pay stipend in the amount of $2,200. High school teachers who work a combination of PE and other subjects will receive a prorated stipend based upon their non-PE assignment. The total amount of stipends paid cannot exceed $90,000.

I’m going to skim through it and see what I find interesting.

• Taxpayers will finance “1.16 Full Time Equivalents of member of the bargaining unit time for the purpose of conducting Association business,” minus the cost of hiring a substitute. (President Release Time)
• Maximum students K-2 in 2013-14 will be 27 (28 enrolled), 3rd to 5th 30 (31 enrolled)
• Maximum students K-2 in 2014-15 will be 26 (27 enrolled), 3rd to 5th 28 (29 enrolled)
• PE and music education teachers’ student contact time will decrease from 1575 to 1500 minutes per week.
• Maximum students for middle school in 2013-14 will be 186, average class of 31, paid overload if more
• Maximum students for middle school in 2013-14 will be average class of 31, paid overload if more
• Middle School teachers shall have no more than 300 minutes of student contact per day
• Based on a nine period day, all general education teachers shall teach no more than five class periods plus one ELT per day or six classes. If more, shall be paid one-fifth of base salary
• High School teachers shall have no more than 285 minutes of student classes plus one ASP may be assigned 155 students; high school teachers teaching six (6) classes may be assigned 186 students. If more, overload pay.
• In the 2014-2015 school year, high school teachers may be assigned a cap of 31 students per class. If more, overload pay.
• High school teachers shall not be required to teach in more than two different subject area departments in any given school semester without additional compensation at the rate of $600.00 per semester.
• Instead of coming to school twenty minutes early and staying twenty minutes after school, the new contract says fifteen minutes and five minutes, respectively181 days of work.
• 181 days of work.
• Divers Ed is limited to three students per vehicle.
• There is whistle blowing protection.
• Twelve sick days credited at the beginning of the year; unused sick days may accumulate without limit.
• Two personal days a year which shall be accumulated as sick days if unused.
• No docking for jury, DCFS, court or administrative hearings or testimony.
• There is a sick leave bank
• Early retirement is possible at age 55 without discount provisions under some circumstances. The District will pay the employer share of the early retirement penalty.
• Up to 40 days of unpaid sick leave can be put into an HRA upon retirement.
• Employees notifing the District that one is retiring four years ahead of time shall receive an increase equal to three percent compounded of the teacher’s TRS creditable earnings for the previous school year for a maximum of four years immediately prior to retirement,plus $500 a year for an HRA account.
• Extra pay amounts and schedule will increase by 2%, 1% and 1% over the three years of the contract.
• A goal has been set that health insurance costs not increase more than 14% a year. If they do, the goal is to cut benefits.
• Taxpayers will pay 70% of the cost of family health insurance.
• 80% of the cost of dental insurance shall be paid by the taxpayers.
• Taxpayer-paid life insurance of $50,000 shall be provided.
• 80% of vision insurance shall be paid by the taxpayers.
• $250 a year will be put in each HRA.
• Mileage will be paid traveling from school to school and for district meetings.
• Members on a step that cannot advance on the salary schedule will receive a 3%, 2% and 3% increase over the three-year contract.
• The District shall pay 5% (5 percentage points of the required 9.5% of payroll) of the TRS payment.
• There’s an extra pay for extra work table.
• The name of the Pom-Pom Squad has been changed to Athletics Dance Team.
• The Instructional Rate is typically paid for work that requires planning, instruction, testing, and/or creation of written documents.
• The Non-Instructional Rate is paid for work that requires physical presence but not instruction.
• There is plenty of language about Special Education.
• A member of a protected group is generally one who is older than 40, disabled, a female or a minority. One may not treat a member of a protected group differently than the rest of the employee group without cause. The burden of proof is on the supervisor.

Salary Schedules

Click to enlarge this salary schedule.

Click to enlarge.

Click to enlarge.

Licensed Practical Nurses get paid $22.60 to $33.40 per hour.

Striking District 300 teachers walked on the side of Randall Road near the Jacobs High School sign.

A robo-call from District 300 Board member Joe Stevens tonight announced the settlement of the LEAD300 teachers union strike:

“Good evening. This is Joe Stevens, member of the District 300 Board of Education and District spokesperson regarding the ongoing negotiations between the Teachers Union, LEAD 300, and the Board of Education.

“Board of Education and LEAD 300 negotiation teams met today to try to find a resolution.

“On behalf of LEAD and the Board, I am pleased to report that we officially reached a tentative agreement this evening with LEAD for a new 3-year contract.

“The strike has ended, and schools will be in session tomorrow, Wednesday, December 5th.

“It was through the combined efforts of LEAD’s leadership team and the Board’s leadership team that we are able to end the strike.

“Both LEAD and the Board deeply appreciate the amount of public input we have received on these incredibly important issues.

“Your support for our efforts and for the learning environment was impressive.

“It is clear that we all share a mutual concern for our students’ success.

“As is customary in these types of situations, no details of our tentative agreement will be released by either party until the agreement is ratified by the LEAD membership and accepted by the Board of Education which is anticipated to take place no sooner than December 18th.

“Thank you.”

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Such a shame the taxpayer pubic is not able to see the contract before those who negotiated in secret vote to approve it.

A comment from a previous article included these emailed suggestions for picket signs:

Hi all:

Teachers on Randall Road near Jacobs High School seemed to have no custom-made signs.

Make signs at warming center on your breaks1. Students First, NOT ADM
2. $ 6 million WASTED on ADM per year
3. Teacher concessions $3.4 million per year
4. Dr. Bregy is a Quack
5. Bregy mismanages D300 $
6. Stevens/Bregy are the problem
7. Less teachers, less coaches, less clubs WHY?
8. Teachers = Strong Students
9. ADM NOT the answer, teachers are the SOLUTION

11. Fire Bregy
12. Teachers for students
13. Support students, NOT ADM
14. Don’t trust Stevens, an insurance salesman
15. Support classroom environment, NOT ADM
16. We are schools, not a corporation
17. ADM does not teach students
18. 29 more ADM, 30 less teachers WHAT?

20. More layers of mangement, WRONG
21. VOTE STEVENS OUT

Greg Fogarty

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School Board Recruitment Ad

Note that suggestions 10 and 19 are missing. Are you as curious as I am as to what they were?

You will also note the evidence that the teachers union will be involved in next spring’s school board elections. Not that they have not been before…and not just in District 300.

The problem is that those representing the taxpayer side of the equation don’t have a large enough personal financial interest to run for school board.

But, just in case someone is interested in taking on the challenge, here is the link from the recruitment ad that is running on McHenry County Blog.

And, here it is:

“The District 300 Board of Education and LEAD 300 negotiation teams met from 8 a.m. to approximately 4:45 p.m. today (Monday, Dec. 3), with the assistance of a federal mediator, to discuss outstanding contractual issues. The Board agreed to LEAD’s latest proposal this morning to further reduce class sizes at all grade levels and create class size caps for middle and high school classes.   The LEAD team then increased its salary proposal by returning to an earlier salary request.

“The Board’s proposal equates to $15 million over current spending levels for the life of the 3-year contract.  This includes salaries, benefits, class size reductions, and other collective bargaining matters.  The Board agreed with LEAD’s proposal from this morning regarding class sizes, staff recall rights, bullying policy, and the number of students in lab-based classrooms.

“The Board agreed to LEAD’s proposal from this morning on class sizes and committed to hiring approximately 60 teachers.  There is no agreement on salaries.   The Board’s latest offer will require the District to deficit spend for the next three years.  The Board has agreed to this proposal without knowing the financial impact of potential pension reform and future state funding levels.

“Despite today’s progress in negotiations, LEAD has advised the Board that they will be going on strike tomorrow, Tuesday, December 4.  District 300 schools will be closed tomorrow, and all school-sponsored events and activities are cancelled. The district will enact its Emergency Attendance Center plan tomorrow for students whose parents registered them in advance to participate.”

The Board’s latest offer included:

SALARY SCHEDULE

• 2012-2013: 3% salary increase (including step)
• 2013-2014: 2% salary increase (including step)
• 2014-2015: 3% salary increase (including step)

CLASS SIZE / WORKING CONDITIONS

The Board agreed with LEAD’s proposal from this morning (Dec. 3) to reduce class sizes at all grade levels, and also to establish class caps for the first time at the middle and high school levels to improve teaching conditions.  This would require the District to hire approximately 60 teachers, as follows:

• At the elementary level, add approximately 40 teachers over the next two years:
  • The maximum number of students per class (K-2) will be 27 students in 2013-2014 and 26 students beginning in 2014-2015.
  • The maximum number of students per class (3-5) will be 30 students in 2013-2014 and 29 students beginning in 2014-2015.
• At the middle school level, add 10 teachers in 2013-2014:
  • Cap the number of students per class, excluding PE and music, at 32 students in 2013-2014 and 31 students beginning in 2014-2015. (Currently there are no caps for middle school class sizes.)
  • The additional 10 teachers would help to reduce class sizes.
• At the high school level, add 10 teachers in 2013-2014:
  • Cap the number of students per class, excluding PE and music, at 32 students in 2013-2014 and 31 students beginning in 2014-2015. (Currently there are no caps for high school class sizes.)
  • The 10 additional teachers will be utilized to create a new nine-period schedule, which will not change student course loads but will improve teacher working conditions.  Teachers (except PE and music) will now teach five classes daily plus one period of supervision.

RETIREMENT

The Board modified its Nov. 29 retirement incentive proposal.  The retirement incentive would  expire at the end of this 3-year contract, as follows:

• 2012-2013:  6% increase over Illinois Teachers Retirement System (TRS) creditable earnings for each of the four years prior to retirement
• 2013-2014:  3% increase over TRS creditable earnings for each of the four years prior to retirement
• 2014-2015:  3% increase over TRS creditable earnings for each of the four years prior to retirement

INSURANCE

There would be no change to overall insurance benefits, with the exception that if the annual increase to insurance costs is projected to exceed 14% then the D300 Insurance Committee (which includes LEAD members) will meet to determine changes in the insurance design plan.

If the committee does not agree on design changes, the Board and employees enrolled in the plan will split 50/50 any increase over 14%.

NATIONAL BOARD CERTIFICATION

The Board maintained its Nov. 29 proposal regarding additional compensation to teachers in possession of National Board Certification, as follows. For teachers currently holding National Board Certification, the Board proposed phasing out the extra pay of 7% of their annual salary.

Currently, teachers who earn National Board Certification receive a 7% increase to their annual salary.  The new contract would phase out this benefit for current certificate holders, as follows:

• 2012-2013: extra pay of 6% of annual salary
• 2013-2014: extra pay of 5% of annual salary
• 2014-2015: extra pay of 2.5% of annual salary
• Teachers who achieve National Board Certification after March 1, 2013, will receive an annual stipend of $1,200.
• Any teacher who decides by March 1, 2013, not to continue pursuing this certification would be reimbursed for personal certification-related expenses up to $3,000.

If District 300 teachers decide to gather for a meeting outside of some school as these Huntley District 158 ones did in 2008, at least it won’t be in the biting cold.

Here’s the message from the teachers’ union’s bargaining committee:

“LEAD 300 Members,

“As of 3:15 pm this afternoon, LEAD 300 and the Board’s team have not been able to come to a suitable compromise on both Class Size and Compensation issues. The Board’s team is also unwilling to entertain any alternatives or creative methods to compensate members for overload and/or salary.

“95% of the members at our meeting told us that they would not accept the Board’s proposal as presented. And unfortunately we have not made enough movement from that proposal. At this point, their attorney has left for the evening and is not able to come back until 8:00pm. She has made it clear that even if she does return, we should not expect to see any more movement this evening.

“We must, therefore, take the next step in this incredibly difficult process. As of tomorrow morning, LEAD 300 members are on Strike.

“Members will be contacted by their building strike captains with further instructions.

“Together, in unity, we must take this ultimate step. We must finish this contract negotiation.

“The LEAD 300 Bargaining Team”

You can read a good part of the Administration’s “Final Offer” here.

Here is District 300′s response:

Schools closed Tuesday, Dec. 4; Teachers Union will strike

The following voice mail message was sent by the Board of Education to District 300 parents and staff members at 5:25 p.m. this evening (Monday, Dec. 3, 2012):

Joe Stevens

“Hello, this is Joe Stevens, member of the District 300 Board of Education and District spokesperson regarding the ongoing negotiations between the Teachers Union, LEAD 300, and the Board of Education.

“Board of Education and LEAD 300 negotiation teams have been meeting since 8 a.m. this morning with the assistance of a federal mediator to discuss outstanding contractual issues.

“After the Board agreed to LEAD’s latest proposal to further reduce class sizes at all grade levels and create class size caps for middle and high school classes, the LEAD team increased its salary proposal by returning to an earlier salary request.

“At this point, the Board has met LEAD’s expectations regarding class sizes, but we have not reached agreement on salaries.

“The LEAD team has advised the Board that they will be going on strike tomorrow, Tuesday, December 4.

“D300 schools will be closed tomorrow, and all school-sponsored events and activities are cancelled.

“The district will enact its plan tomorrow for Emergency Attendance Centers for students who registered in advance to participate. For more information about today’s collective bargaining efforts, please visit d300.org later this evening.”

Here’s what’s on the District 300 web site:

This synopsis is not inclusive of the full Board proposal, but attempts to highlight the major issues discussed during negotiations and recent mediation sessions.

Elementary Class Size Proposal:

The Board agrees with the teachers union that reducing class size at the elementary level is a top priority. To that end, the Board is committed to spending approximately $2.4 million to lower class size, which funds 27.5 additional teachers and lowers the number of students in 85 classrooms.

Salary Proposal:

The Board is committed to giving raises to teachers in the form of step increases (a salary increase based on the length of time a teacher has been employed in the district) for each year of the contract, as well as a percentage increase to base pay in the first and third years of the contract.

Teachers with a Masters or Doctorate degree on Step 25 of the salary schedule will receive increase of 2.75% in Year 1, 2.00% in Year 2, and 2.50% in Year 3.

Insurance Proposal:

No change to current contribution levels. The teachers’ proportionate share of premium payments for health, dental or vision insurance will not increase. If the annual premium increases beyond 14% a joint administration and LEAD committee will meet to discuss plan changes to limit the increase.

Retirement Proposal:

It is common knowledge that the General Assembly is considering legislation that would shift the State’s required contributions to the teachers’ pension system to local school districts, or penalize local school districts for any end of career salary increases. The Board believes that end-of-service retirement enhancements need to be phased out. Therefore, the Board has proposed that the current retirement plan’s end-of-career salary increases be phased out during the three years of this agreement and that the post-retirement benefit be reduced. This allows teachers at or near retirement age to have one final opportunity to take advantage of end of career salary increases.

At the conclusion of the 2014-2015 school year, new retirees will no longer be eligible for an end-of-career salary increase.

High School Schedule and Working Conditions:

In order to improve working conditions resulting from recent changes to the structure of the high school day, the Board agrees to LEAD’s proposal of moving to a nine period high school day. This can be accomplished without changes to the current start and end times of the school day, and would include:

• Five periods of classroom assignments, with the exception of music and PE teachers
• One period of supervision, which could include lunch supervision, academic support period, tutoring center, study hall, or compliance period for education services staff
• One period of duty free lunch
• Two periods of plan preparation

Education Services Compliance Assurance Days Proposal:

In order to address compliance of student Individualized Educational Plans, elementary and middle school special education teachers will be allocated an additional five compliance assurance days, for a total of eight days, each school year. This will also allow education services staff the appropriate time to meet the ever changing legal requirements and maintain appropriate communication with parents and outside agencies.

Additional proposals that impact or enhance teacher working conditions:

• Co-teaching pairs will be compensated for one hour of plan time a week at the non-instructional rate if schedules do not allow for a common plan time between the pair during the school day.
• The Board agrees with LEAD 300’s concept of increased flexibility for teacher arrival and departure times.
• The Board agrees with LEAD 300’s concept of increased flexibility for teacher plan time.
• The Board agrees with LEAD 300’s concept of defined parameters for faculty and department meetings.
• The Board agrees with LEAD 300 that bullying should not be tolerated in the workplace. The Board has proposed a joint effort to create a Board policy to address this issue.
• The Board has proposed an increase to the extra-duty pay schedule equal to 2% for the 2012-2013 SY, 1% for the 2013-2014 SY and 1% for the 2014-2015 SY.
• In response to recent changes in the law, the Board has proposed language changes to the current collective bargaining agreement to ensure compliance with state statutes.

According to Board of Education Spokesperson, Joe Stevens, “We believe we were making good progress to address the union’s top priorities including class size and working conditions. Now that the union has declared impasse, we are waiting to receive their final proposal to resume future negotiations.”

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A comment on this article from a student seems to give the union viewpoint.

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.

The last teachers’ strike in the area was by the Huntley Teachers Association in 2008.

Strike votes are being taken at various schools in Carpentersville Unit School District 300.

Teachers who wish to go on strike seem to be winning.

In preparation, leadership is pointing to Friday, October 19th, as the day the picket lines will go up.

It seems likely that it is not a coincidence that Friday, October 19th is the end of a pay period, the day that pay checks are due.

The Prairie Grove Teachers Association is in the news today, so I thought you might be interested in the latest message from the teachers’ union.  If you want to see more about the impasse, check out the unions’ web site.

ATTENTION PG DISTRICT 46 RESIDENTS

Are you confused?
We are too.

• Are the teachers going on strike?

The PGTA is doing everything we can to avoid going on strike. We continue to meet with the BOE negotiating team and will keep all options open to settle this contract.

• Will the contract that the PGTA is requesting cause a tax increase?

No, the PGTA offer is based on the increase in revenue to the District. As the economy goes, so goes the teacher’s raises.

• Will the PGTA contract proposal cause a financial hardship to the district or taxpayers or have a negative impact on programs?

NO. The District Business Manager reported at the August 14, 2012 Board meeting that in his proposed budget he had over-estimated expenditures, under-estimated revenue and still anticipated a $167,000 surplus for fiscal year 2013.

• How far apart, financially, are the two sides?

Currently the difference is less than $20,000. To keep this in perspective consider that the District has an $11.6 million budget.

• Are all the issues financial?

No, there are some procedural concerns and language that needs to be changed as a result of State law changes.

• It’s been reported that “the biggest barrier is getting a date (for negotiations)” Is this true?

The PGTA negotiations team has been responsive to all requests for meetings with the BOE team. The PGTA has also offered many meeting dates and we currently have a negotiation session scheduled for Thursday September 6, 2012.

• Where can you get more information?

https://sites.google.com/site/pgta46