Sept. 26--An overnight marathon bargaining session produced a tentative agreement on a new contract for striking teachers in Prospect Heights School District 23, officials announced Saturday morning.
If teachers vote Sunday to ratify the new contract, the district's 1,500 students will return to school Monday, officials said.
After a 12-hour negotiation session, officials issued a statement Saturday morning, saying the district board and the Prospect Heights Education Association, the local teachers union, struck a tentative agreement on a new four-year contract. Union members will meet Sunday to vote on the new deal, and the district board plans to vote on it Tuesday evening, according to the statement.
"If the union ratifies the contract, employees and students will return to school on Monday," the statement said.
Officials with the school board and the teachers union were not immediately available for comment Saturday morning.
Friday evening's negotiation meeting began on a positive note, with PHEA President Bob Miller greeted by raucous cheers from dozens of fellow teachers and union supporters as he arrived for the 6 p.m. meeting at the district's administration center.
A smaller crowd of families gathered on the sidelines nearby, some of them chatting with teachers, while others shared their frustrations over a teachers strike they said has compromised their children's education.
Other parents said they were upset that the strike has prohibited their students from participating in extracurricular activities and team sports, as striking teachers are barred from serving as coaches and advisers.
Indeed, district Superintendent Debbie Wilson was expected to attend the Illinois Music Education Association's Honors Band auditions at Grayslake Middle School on Saturday, where she hopes to plead the case of a group of MacArthur Middle School musicians who have spent months preparing for the competition.
Rachel Delmar, 12, who plays the clarinet and the saxophone in the MacArthur band, said Friday night that the teachers strike has jeopardized her dream of performing with the elite music association's honors group.
"I am really sad our teachers are on strike, because I've been working so hard on my music," Rachel said. "I think they need to change the rules, because it's not our fault the teachers went on strike."
School was canceled Wednesday through Friday last week, and Monday through Friday of this week for the 1,570 students in prekindergarten through eighth grade at the northwest suburban school 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 parts of Arlington Heights, Mount Prospect and Wheeling.
kcullotta@tribpub.com
