Lake Forest High School teachers are in Day 3 of their strike. The following statements from the LFHS admin and the Lake Forest Teacher Association were submitted Thursday night after many hours of negotiations between the District 115 Board of Education and teachers’ union:
District 115 Board of Education:
“The Lake Forest High School Board of Education and the Union met for 8 hours tonight. The parties made progress on numerous considerations.
Working through the mediator, the Board offered to defer the two-tier salary schedule to a faculty and board committee to come to a consensus, and agreed to phase in the HMO insurance change.“The Union is still demanding salary increases of 5 to 6.5% per year. The Board responded by rejecting these terms and requested a more realistic counter proposal, which the Union declined. As a result no settlement was reached this evening.
“The Board will be back at the bargaining table at 9:00 am tomorrow.
“Board President Sharon Golan comments, “We are deeply disappointed by the Union’s unrealistic expectations regarding salaries. Our offer keeps us highly competitive and fiscally responsible to the community we serve.”
Lake Forest Teacher Association 9-13-2012:
Jim Carey to LFEA: “Keep Your Signs, Guys”
The Lake Forest Education Association (LFEA) met today with the District 115 Board of Education (BOE).
Before the beginning of the collective bargaining session, a group of 40 teachers had assembled to demonstrate support for a resolution during today’s scheduled meeting.
When several LFEA members addressed Mr. Carey with “Let’s get it done” and “good luck,” Mr. Carey replied “Keep your signs, guys.”
Negotiations began at 2:00 PM and ended at 9:20 PM. During the negotiations, again, there was no movement by the BOE.
According to LFEA lead negotiator, Tom Gigiano, “We believe that by both the lack of action on the part of the BOE and even the comments of Mr. Carey beforehand, it appears that the BOE was never interested in coming to a successful contract resolution tonight. We are disappointed in the Board, but hope that we can come to a fair and equitable contract soon and get back to teaching. We know that you have heard this before, but again, again, the LFEA made a new financial offer, and again, the evening ended with no change in the proposal from the Board.”
Have you seen the current salaries??? One guy pulling in $184,000, Another at $153,000. Many at $140,000/130,000. Pretty fine for eight months work per year.
@James – If that $184k was for the top rated math or science teacher in the state it would be OK. However, the top paid techer in the district teaches PE!!!!! Worse yet, the number three teacher instructs drivers ed.??????
Stand your ground with the Union!
I did.
The trust that has been enjoyed in this town, between teachers and parents, is dramatically broken. I doubt it will ever be the same; at least for a very long time. Our teachers would have us believe that their requests are really about “what is good for the kids”; yet they bring suit against the district on three counts, including one to ensure that participation in competitive sports stops for our students.
This isn’t about their concern for the kids; that is obvious. They are trying to hold us hostage. They imply that the high ACT scores achieved in this district reflect their unique teaching abilities. They take the credit in the media for these achievements, without ever mentioning other important contributing factors.
What about the supportive parent environment here? Most of us are highly vigilant about trying to make sure our kids study, study hard, and do their best. “This is their work,” we tell them. Isn’t that a piece of the strong performance achieved on these tests? How about the fact that a significant proportion of our students take private ACT and SAT prep courses? These students do THIS homework on their own time, in addition to the homework they receive from school. Might not that impact the positive scores? Finally, I am distressed to think that our teachers are so uninformed about what is going on in the private sector, and how the general working environment has changed in these economic times. If they will not cross picket lines and go back to work, when the legal time period is up, replace them. The community stands behind you, Board. We’ll make it work.
Even though I have a child directly affected by the strike, I would advise the teachers union to stay on strike until the board accepts what by all accounts appears to be a VERY fair offer. Scream poor economy all you want, but at the end of the day, the district is doing quite well financially and acceptance of the LFEA offer will not negatively affect the Educational Fund balance. In addition, what idiot would sign a contract that allowed one party to unilaterally change the terms? I would make the argument that it is the BOE who is threatening our children’s education in their push to crush the union…enough already. We are not Wisconsin thank god and we respect our public employees.
In addition, I am not sure what information the board is publishing, but the offer I saw from the teachers was 2.5% raise on the base salary in 2012-2013, 3.25% in 2013-14, and 2-4% depending on CPI in 2014-15. Somebody needs to explain the discrepancy in the numbers because I do not believe the BOE’s numbers.
This offer is well within community norms. I want LFHS to the most desirable place in Illinois to teach and I DO NOT want us to regress down to the mean. I live here in large part because the school system is excellent and we all benefit because of it. We are currently 18th on the list of starting salaries for bachelor’s degree and 20th w/ a masters. If you think the salaries are high, become a teacher…it is a noble profession and an important one and one that does not deserve the level of taxpayer stinginess that I have seen recently.
Here are the numbers. The first set is what the Board is offering for salary increases; the second set is what the teachers and their union want. The teachers’ demands in this economic environment do not seem reasonable;
particularly at a time when professionals in the working world are often getting no raises at all. They’re happy to not be laid off. Additionally, the teachers enjoy automatic pay schedule increases for the number of years worked. These increases, in conjunction with their demands (as shown below) could effectively give them about a 7% or 8% raise No.
Board Teachers
2013 2.6% 5.6%
2014 3.4% 6.5%
2015 3,4% 5.6%
The LFEA has proposed a budget that does not increase taxes and is well within appropriate salary guidelines. Last year, 2010, the BOE ask the teachers to not ask for a salary increase. The teachers agreed. This year the BOE is again asking for no salary increase, but have salaries remain at the 2010 level, plus concessions that are ridiculous. Last year the BOE of Highland Park asked their teachers to not ask for an increase in salary and took out a full page ad to compliment the teachers. Lake Forest BOE did nothing! Libertyville Education Association took out an ad praising the BOE with their recent contract settlement. The LFBOE is not teacher friendly, in fact it has been hostile all during the process, besides lying. There are four lawsuits filled against the BOE. Settle the strike with LFEA on their grounds!
Teachers should not get automatic salary increases every year when the tax base cannot afford them. Our property taxes should not remain the same, they should go DOWN to reflect the value of our property. Changing the tax value to pay for a very expensive school system is not fair to those of us who do not get automatic pay increases just for showing up another year. (step raises).
To R. H Cook: You are ridiculous. I have seen the 2011 salaries for each of these teachers, and was flabbergasted. This describes the feeling of every resident I know. The teachers’ package is phenomenal; they would never get these kinds of benefits, including retirement pay, in the real world. Why don’t you get in it.
The teachers at LFHS are the 1% in teaching professionals in the United States. They should be ashamed for asking for unrealistic pay increases. Families in LF/LB/Knollwood have seen their incomes shrink and don’t have “guaranteed” jobs and fat pensions like the teachers. Teachers, you are losing your respect and good will with the residents of this community. We are prepared to ride out this strike as long as possible and want the BOE to stand firm. The real problem is in the City of Chicago. Our teachers need to get back to work and inspire their students to solve the problems of poverty and inequality in this broken world.
District 115 pay is one of the top paying districts in the state, do these teachers understand that their next school district will most likely be paying them much less. That teachers from other areas of the state are lining up to apply to 115. That with the facilities and parent support that they take for granted they will never achieve the level of success they enjoy here. Do not bite the hand that feeds you, or you may go hungry. Stay the course BOE.
Every parent I have spoken to in the past few days agrees. We are behind the BOE 100%!
What can the union be thinking? I urge the board to stand your ground…….the school community is behind you.
I trust the BOE will stand strong and not let the union get their hands on the surplus funds. I understand resumes are pouring in from teachers from other districts.
And we want our kids being taught by people who have the morals to take the job of another for less money? And what happens when they finally start asking for something?
Morality, is it? Taking the job of another? The job which was rejected by another, in times when so many people would love to have a job? A job that gave them an idyllic atmosphere, educated families, safe environment, state of the art technology, health care, pension…? Let’s talk about morals!