Sept. 21--With classes canceled for the fourth day for 1,500 students in Prospect Heights School District 23, many parents again scrambled Monday morning to find day care for their children, while officials said they hope an evening meeting could finally yield a contract and end the teachers strike.
Negotiations Sunday night failed to produce a settlement but a teachers union official said in his opinion the two sides "got a bit closer."
As dozens of striking teachers walked the picket line Monday morning beneath a cloudless sky, the nearby park district's emergency day care program had hit its 50-student capacity, with five families placed on the waiting list, officials said.
Children enrolled in the emergency day care programs and extra staff from the neighboring Arlington Heights and Wheeling park districts were expected to be re-located to Prospect Heights' Gary Morava Recreation Center this week to centralize operations and expand enrollment, Prospect Heights Park District registrar Michelle Brennan said.
"We're filled up today with a wait list, and we're still getting lots of walk-ins and phone calls from parents looking for child care," Brennan said.
Many other working parents are using personal and vacation days to stay home and care for their children, while others have been relying upon relatives and neighbors since the teachers strike began on Sept. 16, she added.
While park district officials said they have established moderate fees for the program, which costs $44 per day per child, a family with two children enrolled for all four days of the strike has now paid $352.
A Sunday night negotiation session between the district's board of education and the Prospect Heights Education Association, the local teachers union, ended after the union rejected a board proposal to take a two-week "cooling off" period, which would have allowed teachers to return to the classroom while negotiations continued. A federal mediator attended the meeting.
In a statement posted on the District 23 website, board of education President Mari-Lynn Peters said: "The Prospect Heights School District 23 Board of Education shares the concerns of our parents, teachers and community about the duration of the strike and its impact on our students. We have been asked numerous times, 'Could teachers return to the classroom while the Board of Education and the PHEA continue to negotiate?' The answer is YES."
Peters said a "cooling off" period would have allowed the board of education and PHEA to "continue to negotiate under the guidance of a federal mediator in the hopes of achieving resolution -- while our students would return to the classroom where they belong, ending the disruption to their school and activities.
"We truly believe that under this 'cooling off' proposal, our students are winners and neither side loses. Again, I want to affirm that the board strongly believes in and respects our teaching and support staff, and wants to compensate teachers and support staff fairly and equitably for their work, while operating within the financial means of the district. We will continue to negotiate in good faith for a contract that supports both the educational quality and the financial stability of our district."
But teacher Dan Perillo, a member of the PHEA's negotiation team, said teachers returning to the classroom before a contract is reached could created a confusing situation for students, who could potentially return to school, only to find their classes canceled again as the strike continues.
"That's a tough thing to do to students, who could end up in and out of the classroom," Perillo said. "We'd like to sit down at the table and negotiate an agreement, then get the kids back to where they should be."
While Perillo declined to reveal the specifics of the union and board of education's Sunday night meeting with a federal mediator, he said the two sides are starting to make some progress toward reaching a resolution.
"We got a little bit closer, and with back-to-back meetings two nights in a row, I'm trying to be optimistic," Perillo said.
Still, Sunday night's negotiations took place just days after the union filed with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board an unfair labor practice charge Sept. 17 of failing to "bargain in good faith."
According to a statement on the District 23 website, the union accusation alleges that "the board of education refused to meet unless the union stopped proposing a salary schedule."
In addition, the union alleges that Peters refused to bargain, and claims that District 23 Superintendent Debbie Wilson and Peters "refused to let the union bargaining team into the building to negotiate on the evening of Sept. 16."
District officials countered the allegations, saying that "the union version bears little resemblance to the actual events."
The teachers strike, the first in the northwest suburban school district's 100-year history, was called Sept. 16 after the school board and the PHEA failed to agree on a new three-year contract.
Peters said the union refused the school board's most recent pay hike offer of 3.25 percent the first two years of the contract and 3 percent for the third year for teachers earning less than $90,000 a year.
About 20 teachers earning more than $90,000 annually were offered 1.75 percent pay increases the first and second year of the contract and 1.5 percent increases the third year, Peters said.
The teachers union made a counter offer last week of 4.5 percent raises for the first two years of the three-year contract and 4.25 the third year across the board for all 150 teachers and support staff employed by the school district.
But Peters said the school board is also concerned that the teachers union has recently included demands to reinstate a so-called "step" salary schedule, which she said was eliminated in recent years as part of contract negotiations.
The union is proposing a 2.25 percent step salary schedule increase each year for teachers earning less than $90,000.
The 2.25 step increase represents roughly half of the total 4.5 percent raise for the first two years of the contract and 4.25 percent increase for the third year, Perillo said.
In addition, teachers would be rewarded with salary hikes for earning graduate degrees. For example, upon completion of a master's degree, teachers would receive a pay raise from moving to a different "lane" within the salary schedule, Perillo said.
Though district officials said teachers are reimbursed for graduate school course work at roughly $150 per semester hour, or $450 for a three-semester-hour class, with a master's level class at a Chicago-area university costing roughly $3,000, the expense remains steep.
"The district does have some tuition reimbursement, but a teacher could easily end up paying $20,000 out-of-pocket to get a master's degree," Perillo said.
Meanwhile, Perillo confirmed that the strike has also forced the cancellation of extra-curricular activities and team sports.
School was canceled Wednesday through Friday of last week for the 1,570 students in pre-kindergarten through 8th grade at the district's four schools: Dwight D. Eisenhower, Betsy Ross and Anne Sullivan Elementary Schools and Douglas MacArthur Middle School.
In addition to Prospect Heights, the district's boundaries include areas of Arlington Heights, Mount Prospect and Wheeling.
kcullotta@tribpub.com
@kcullotta
