The following statement was submitted by the Lake Forest High School administration on Friday evening, Sept. 14:

Lake Forest High School
Lake Forest, Illinois
September 14, 2012

The Lake Forest High School Board of Education filed an unfair labor practice claim with Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board alleging:

The LFEA failed and refused to bargain collectively in good faith as exhibited by the following conduct:
• conducting a strike authorization vote prior to the onset of mediation and three months before final offers were exchanged;

• delaying bargaining until the start of the school year by continually refusing to meet over the summer;

• releasing its last offer to media outlets on August 17, 2012, before the District had a chance to review the proposal and one week before it was set for publication by the IELRB as required by the IERLA;

• refusing to attend a mediation session where representatives from the District and a mediator were present on September 10, 2012 – two days before a scheduled strike;

• adhering to an illegal bargaining proposal that the District pay its members an uncapped amount from interest funds that the District accrues, despite the fact that such a proposal would violate both the Illinois School (105 ILCS 5/10-22.14 and 105 ILCS 5/10-22.44) and the Illinois Grant Funds Recovery Act (30 ILCS 705/10).