Sept. 18--Dozens of Prospect Heights School District 23 teachers were back on the picket line Friday, marking the third day of a contentious strike that appears far from over.
With classes canceled again and all four of the northwest suburban district's schools shuttered, teacher Dan Perillo said a Thursday night negotiation session had proved fruitless, with neither the teachers union nor the district's board of education budging on their contract demands.
"We can't hide that at this point, we are definitely frustrated that this is the third day of the strike, and our kids are still not in our school buildings," said Perillo, a member of the negotiation team for the Prospect Heights Education Association, the local teachers union. "We were willing to go back into negotiations any time today, Saturday or Sunday, but the board of ed said the soonest they could meet again was Sunday at 6 p.m."
Given the increasing likelihood that the strike will linger into next week, parent Shawn Casey said the dispute over pay raises is proving costly for local families.
For Casey, who dropped his 8-year-old twin boys off at the Prospect Heights Park District emergency child care program, each day of the teacher's strike is costing his family roughly $90 in unexpected child care payments.
"I understand both sides, and the needs of the teachers and the taxpayers, but what's most important is to get our kids back to school," Casey said.
School was canceled for a third day 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.
District 23 Board of Education President Mari-Lynn Peters said Thursday in an email statement that:
"The Board is struggling to understand why the union refused to continue to negotiate on Thursday night September 17. The Board doesn't understand why the union refuses to sign tentative agreements on the items where the parties' proposals are so similar. The Board team will be ready to bargain at 6:00 pm on Sunday, September 20 after 'reflecting upon' the recent bargaining events and engaging community members to confirm that its direction reflects the community's values."
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.
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 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.
"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."
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.
For students like 7-year-old Michael Ciuraj, having yet another day off just a few weeks into the new school year is becoming increasingly tiresome.
"He woke up this morning, and the first thing he said was, 'am I going to school?'" said Kathy Ciuraj, Michael's mom. "This is a new school for him this year, so I'm hopeful this strike will end soon."
"The children are suffering, because they love their school," added parent Mariola Gontar, whose 6-year-old daughter Julia is a first grader at Eisenhower School. "I know some parents who are having to use all their personal days to stay home with their kids, but what will happen when that runs out?
"Some people have the kind of jobs where if they can't go to work, they'll get fired," Gontar added. "The school district needs to find some in-between where everyone is happy."
kcullotta@tribpub.com
