District 300 Teachers Striking

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.”


Comments

District 300 Teachers Striking — 11 Comments

  1. Cal (or reasonable posters)L

    So what is the cause of the outbreak of teachers’ strikes in Illinois?

    Did Chicago’s union embolden the rest of the state?

    Is it because unions have a friend in the White House?

    Interested in thoughts.

  2. The money is not rolling into school districts as it was when property values were increasing rapidly.

    Perhaps the school boards think limitations are necessary and the teachers in striking districts don’t.

  3. Options ▼

    Add Facebook Contacts All your Facebook Friends instantly

    Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2012 19:23:07 -0600
    Subject: MAKE SIGNS TO WIN

    Hi all:

    Make signs at warming center on your breaks

    1. 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

  4. Allen, keep up your great work with your new radio gig with columnist Jeff Ward at Left, Right and You.

    Since I work, cannot listen to it live.

    Will look for the podcast on http://thefirstward.net

    One request — please keep the show LOCAL about local issues.

    The last 2 podcasts I’ve listened to, it’s been too much about national and state, but very little about local issues/events.

    The D300 and the greediness of the teachers is a great topic.

    The new Kane County Board and county officials will be great, too, especially the hay certain political losers are spreading on twitter about Chairman Chris Lauzen staying in the senate until the end of the veto session, despite his campaign promise to finish his senate term.

    Speaking of Kane County, please, what are yours and Jeff Ward’s perspective on the leadership positions to be announced next Tuesday for committee chairmanships?

    Like I said, we’ll look forward to the podcast!

  5. Cal, the striking greedy teachers do not care.

    About students , taxpayers losing their homes oe being unemployed.

    All they care about is money and how much more can we get.

    A good deal for the taxpayers would be unemployed teachers.

  6. Personally I think that any deal that does not include a decrease in wages and eliminate the pre-pension-taypayer-screw hike is not a good deal for the taxpayers. If I were them I would have jumped on the Board’s deal!

    Leaching Every Abducted Dollar 300 is all about the money and is using our kids as pawns, as hostages.

  7. I completely disagree with this strike, however, there is one point the teachers have made regarding Administration I would like clarified.

    Why do schools need so much Administration in the age of technology?

    Technology is supposed to make administrative tasks easier.

  8. One could argue that technology also makes teachers jobs easier too, so why pay them more?

    Seems foolish to walk away from the very rich package that was on the table.

    I’m willing to teach these students the reality about why their teachers are doing all day cardio workouts on street corners.

    I’m also with the guy on another site who wants to picket the union headquarters.

    And to the “Mr IEA” jason/Greg Fogarty, shouldn’t #7 use the word “Fewer” instead of “Less”.

    Time to get review some grammar while walking….

  9. If the teachers are claiming there is excess CUSD 300 administration they should more specifically state which administrators are excessive and why.

    In general school districts have mountains of data and government regulations that need to be sifted through and reported internally to teachers and administrators, and externally to the Regional Office of Education, State, and Federal agencies.

    New Federal and State mandates are passed every year requiring increased administration.
    Administrators and their lobbying groups are constantly reminding lawmakers that unfunded mandates require increased administrative effort.

    How data is used by both administrators and teahcers is not widely analyzed or reported by the press, or understood by parents.

    For example, many local school districts don’t share student specific local assessment data with parents, even though parents paid for it through taxes.
    Some teachers are better than others at analyzing and using standardized test data to improve student performance.

    One would think an administration task is to be sure teachers are utilizing standardized test data to improve student performance.

    But teachers like to be in charge of their classroom and don’t like to be told how to teach.
    When is the last time one of your child’s teachers talked to you about how to improve your child’s education based on their local assessment, ISAT, ACT Explore, ACT Plan, ACT, and other standardized test scores?

    When is the last time one of your children’s teachers explained to you, your students strengths and weaknesses based the above test scores.

    That’s not in their collective bargaining agreement, thus they are not required to do it.
    Theoretically the administration and teachers coordinate during in early starts and late starts to improve a students education.

    Few school districts specifically tell parents what teachers do during each early start, late start, institute day, and non attendance day.

    Parents don’t ask enough questions.

    They are far too trusting.

    Administrators can tell by analyzing test data over a number of years which teachers are more effective than others, which theoretically could be used with subjective data to improve teacher performance, or if not improved, to dismiss a teacher.

    Teacher unions counter that teachers shouldn’t teach to the test and administrators can’t be trusted to decide which teachers are most effective.

    The State of Illinois has collective bargaining laws that are very teacher friendly.

    Local school boards largely have teacher friendly collective bargaining agreements.

    The result is every school district has its share of ineffective teachers.

    Hopefully administrators make sure a child doesn’t have an ineffective teacher two years in a row, especially at the elementary level.

    So administrators do all sorts of things behind the scenes.

    One hopes and prays the administrators are effective.

    The Superintendent is in charge of the administrators and the Board is in charge of the Superintendent.

    How many people attend local school board meetings?

  10. Mark, students should never have an ineffective teacher, even for one year.

    That sets back a child’s growth and development far too much.

    Expecting for a kid to grow the following year by two years (one for the lost year, and one for the current year) is unrealistic for adults, much less kids.

    And that assumes they only get one ineffective teacher during their academic career.

    I hope they never get an ineffective teacher – and parents should not stand for it.

    Unfortunately, labor unions wag the dog downstate.

    Speaking of downstate, is it time for legislators to consider exempting teachers from striking much like first responders?

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