Teachers And Parents Blast D124 Board For No Contract

EVERGREEN PARK, IL — Teachers, paraprofessionals and parents unleashed on Dist. 124 board members during public comments at Wednesday’s meeting at Central Middle School. Both sides have been in negotiations for a new three-year contract since March. The teachers union filed an intent-to strike-notice last week.

The Evergreen Park Elementary School Dist. 124 board met in closed session for 90 minutes, presumably so the board’s negotiating team could apprise other board members on the progress of contract negotiations with the teacher’s union. Public comments were limited to three minutes, interrupted by a ringing phone tone when their time was up.

D124 Board President Kim Leonard talked over a dozen speakers who continued talking past their allotted time. Parents and residents spoke in support of a fair and equitable contract for teachers and paraprofessionals to the thunderous applause from teachers union members packing the bleachers.

Members of the Evergreen Park Federation of Teachers’ negotiating team acknowledged to the audience that strides had been made during the mediation session on Sept. 23, although no tentative agreement was reached. Details of the latest session were not released. The teachers union rejected the board’s counter offer of an 11.5-percent salary increase for certified staff and increasing the salary of non-certified staff by 15 percent over three years.

Tracey Gleason, a technology teacher at Southeast Elementary School and a member of the union’s negotiating team, called contract talks an “eye-opening experience.”

“Staff in this district feel devalued and dismissed by not providing a salary schedule,” Gleason said. “By not being competitive with surrounding areas, you are essentially telling teachers to take it or leave it. The lack of value and respect for teachers has a trickle down effect for our students.”

The union’s lead negotiator and D124 kindergarten teacher Linda Blaeser told board members that the remaining concern at large lay with the district’s paraprofessionals, now required to be state certified, who helped set curriculum and design curriculum.

“We fail to recognize the work that our wonderful paraprofessionals do and we cannot leave them behind,” Blaeser said. “They could make more money working at Chick-fil-A even with the raises on the table.”

“It’s time to close the salary gap by encouraging teachers to stay,” Blaeser said. “Our students and community deserve it.”

The next negotiating session is set for Oct. 2. If a tentative agreement cannot be reached, the teachers union could strike on Oct. 17.

~ Facebook video is unedited and recorded in accordance with Illinois Open Meetings Act statutes.