District 39, Teachers Union Approve New 2-Year Contract

WILMETTE, IL — Teachers in Wilmette School District 39 will receive two years of raises tied the rate of inflation and a one-time bonus of $1,000 after the board unanimously approved the measures Tuesday morning at a special board meeting.

Superintendent Kari Cremascoli said administrators had been negotiating since the spring with representatives of the Wilmette Education Association, or WEA, the collective bargaining unit that represents 350 teachers in the six-school district.

"I would just like to thank both negotiating teams for their willingness to come to the table with a shared vision of partnership and collaboration, really a willingness to listen to each other," Cremascoli said. "Last year was no doubt a challenging year for all of us, and this agreement really represents a meaningful step forward to start the school year off really well. It is going to be a great new school year."

According to district staff, the new contract includes raises to be calculated using the rate of inflation — plus 1.7 percent for the 2021-22 school year and 2.5 percent for the 2022-23 school year.

The raises will be capped at 4 percent with a minimum of 2.5 percent. The 12-month Consumer Price Index–All Urban Consumers will be used to measure inflation. The same measurement is used when determining the annual increase in the district's property tax levy.

"I support this agreement because it does two things," said board member Frank Panzica. "It recognizes that our community has a finite amount of resources and we need to spend them wisely, and it recognizes that we deeply value the work — in the past, in the future — of our teaching community and we wanted to reward them for that. So it meets that balance. And I think that's always an important thing to recognize, that there is a balance."

The contract was ratified by the WEA Monday night, according to Cremascoli.

Immediately after approving the contract, board members voted to all issue stipends of $1,000 to all returning staff in recognition of their extraordinary efforts during the 2021-22 school year.

Board President Amy Poehling said the board was happy to have reached the agreement and greatly values its partnership with teachers.

"We want our staff and employees who worked so hard last year to know how appreciated they are," Poehling said. "This is just a small token to let each member of our district know how aware and grateful we are of all you did for our students and community throughout this past year."

Board members Anne Hart and Lisa Schneider-Fabes were on vacation and absent from the meeting, according to Poehling, but they would have voted in favor had they been in attendance.

"I think it's a good contract," said board member Jon Cesaretti. "I think that we all value our teachers, administration and other staff at the school district level. And negotiations, they can be contentious, but I think everyone wants the same goal and I think we got there this time, so it's gratifying."

Wilmette Patch has requested comment from WEA representatives, and any response will be added here.

District officials had yet to make a copy of the new contract publicly available, as of Tuesday evening.

The union's previous contract had been due to expire at midnight on Aug. 23, the first day of the school year.

It included a $1,000 increase in base pay for each of the past two years, as well as raises tied to inflation of 1.5 percent in 2019-20 and 1.9 percent in 2020-21.