Sept. 18--Classes were canceled Thursday for 1,500 students on the second day of the Prospect Heights District 23 teachers strike, but officials were cautiously optimistic that an evening meeting could put an end to the contentious dispute over teachers' pay raises.
"It's hard to say right now, but we will try our best to get a deal done tonight so we can get our kids back to the classroom, and our families can get back to their normal routines," said Bob Miller, a teacher at Betsy Ross School and president of the Prospect Heights Education Association, the local teachers union.
As dozens of striking teachers set up lawn chairs, plastic coolers and a makeshift picnic breakfast before they resumed walking the picket line along Palatine Road, a nearby emergency day care program was almost at the 50-student capacity.
"We have just two openings left today, and none for Friday," said Michelle Brennan, a registrar at the Prospect Heights Park District's Gary Morava Recreation Center, where children were busy Thursday playing indoor and outdoor games, coloring and making craft projects.
The teachers strike, the first in the northwest suburban school district's 100-year history, was called about midnight Wednesday after the school board and Prospect Heights Education Association failed to agree on a new three-year contract.
District 23 board President Mari-Lynn 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 earlier this 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 "step" pay salary schedule increases, which can range from 2.25 percent to 7 percent, were phased out in the last teachers contract, which included two 4.5 percent raises, adding up to a nine percent pay increase, Peters said.
"The step salary schedule was a little bit excessive, and we just could not afford it anymore," Peters said. "Now, suddenly, they are asking for one again."
The step salary schedule raises would be in addition to any raises negotiated with a teachers contract, Peters said.
Peters also questioned the union's claims that District 23's teachers receive the second lowest pay among neighboring districts, which she said runs contrary to recent salary data district officials requested from the Illinois State Board of Education.
According to the PHEA's website, the District 23's starting salary for teachers is $41,819 a year, with an average salary of $64,776.
"We've tried to explain to our teachers that you can't just look at salary, you have to look at benefits and the overall picture," Peters said.
Still, Miller said teachers are disheartened that with just a $450,000 difference between the union and school board's proposals, the district has not considered tapping into the roughly $8 million it has in cash reserves.
In addition, Miller said teachers were dismayed when the school board voted earlier this year to transfer $800,000 from the district's education fund to help pay for more than $10 million in capital improvements to the district's aging buildings, projects which included new air conditioning, heating and school security systems at each of the district's four schools.
"They sold $10 million in bonds for the project, but they mis-budgeted and had to take $800,000 from the ed fund," Miller said.
While the volatile debate between the teachers union and the district's board of education continues to simmer, students like 7-year-old Emily Pavydis say they just want to get back to school.
"I heard on the news that my teachers are taking a strike," said Emily, "so now I'm going to be missing Brownies."
"While I'm sure some kids are happy, when I first told Emily that she was not going to school, she was upset and disappointed," added Emily's mother, Akvile Pavydis.
"I'm not a working mom, so I'm lucky I have that flexibility, but I feel for those families that get that 5 a.m. message, and have to find day care," she said.
Working mom Adriana Schmidt said she's grateful to have found a spot for her kindergartner in the park district's temporary child care program, and says as an educational consultant, she supports the district's teachers' decision to strike for higher pay.
"I was surprised that they ended up striking, as I did not expect it, but as a teacher myself, I understand that it's a rough, difficult and stressful job," she added. "Teachers have to commit all their energy and whole self to their students every day, and they deserve better conditions."
While officials were expected to resume their negotiations at a 6 p.m. meeting Thursday evening, it appeared highly unlikely that school would resume Friday morning 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
