Tentative Agreement Reached for Geneva Teachers

GENEVA, IL – The District 304 Board of Education reached s tentative agreement for a five-year contract early Monday. Schools will still be closed on Dec. 10. The Geneva Education Association membership still needs to vote on the contract and that vote is scheduled for this afternoon, GEA officials said in a statement.

The District 304 school board released the following statement Monday:

“On Sunday, Dec. 9, the Geneva School District 304 Board of Education and the Geneva Education Association (GEA) returned to the bargaining table and met for more than 12 hours under the guidance of an independent federal mediator.
We are happy to announce that at 3:22 a.m. this morning, the Board and the GEA have reached a tentative agreement on a new five-year collective bargaining agreement.”

Kevin Gannon, Geneva Education Association president, released the following statement Monday:

“We’ve reached a tentative agreement(TA) after more than 12 hours at the bargaining table. The Geneva Education Association (GEA) negotiation team supports this TA. We are bringing the TA to the full GEA membership for a vote. Progress was made because we remained committed to collaboration, compromise and doing what’s best for our students. We’d like to thank the community for their continued support. We believe it was that push from the community that brought us across the finish line.”

The GEA has scheduled a news conference for 3 p.m. at Geneva High School.

The above information was updated on December 10 at 8 a.m.

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UPDATED AT 5 P.M. ON DEC. 9

Armed with signs, dozens of teachers and District 304 students and parents met outside Geneva Community High School Sunday afternoon as they prepped to march down area streets in support of teachers. If a deal is not met this afternoon between the Geneva Education Association and the District 304 Board of Education, who are set to enter a bargaining session with a federal mediator starting at 3 p.m., teachers will enter their fifth day of a strike on Monday. The two parties met for five hours Saturday night but did not reach a tentative agreement regarding teachers' salaries and, in particular, the salary model that should be used when determining raises.

The March for Geneva Schools started at Geneva High School, 416 McKinley Ave., at 2 p.m. and continued to Coultrap Educational Services, 227 N. Fourth Street.

During Saturday’s session, the Board and the GEA each presented a new salary model they believed represented a compromise in that it was a combination of the models each side promoted.

The GEA’s proposal included a compromise between the two salary schedule models. This compromise, union officials said, will bring District 304 in line with the average compensation packages of neighboring districts.

Meanwhile, the District 304 school board on Saturday proposed blending the models of both sides and providing higher salaries for more experienced teachers in response to the interests of the union, while maintaining higher starting salaries for beginning teachers, according to a statement from District 304. The school board’s proposal allows both models to run concurrently throughout the life of the proposed four-year contract.

The school board requested the two groups return to mediation for Sunday’s negotiations, according to the District 304 statement. The reason, school officials said, was to try and come to an agreement since school officials understand the “impact of a continued strike on District 304 students and families.”

GEA officials say they are also eager to get back to work.

“We want to be back in the classroom with our students,” GEA President Kevin Gannon said. “The GEA's last contract proposal was a 50-50 deal: two years under the board's salary schedule and two years under the traditional step-and-lane salary schedule that GEA believes is best for our students and the district. However, the board rejected our proposal and instead presented a new plan that offers far less compromise and does not represent a plan the GEA can embrace.”

The GEA represents 465 teachers in District 304’s nine schools and serves the district’s 5,800 students. GEA members have been negotiating with the board since February, working without a contract since mid-August and on strike since Tues., Dec. 4.

“Our members have been out in the freezing temperatures fighting for their students,” Gannon said. “They’re the reason we are out there. We will march, rally and continue to negotiate until we reach a fair contract that will make Geneva schools a place where our students can continue to thrive and a place where quality teachers will come and stay.”

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PHOTO VIA Amie Rowland