14
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.”
http://gazebonews.com/2012/09/14/strike-day-2-district-115-lake-forest-teachers-to-meet/
Today
the LFEA negotiated with the Board of Education from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. The
BOE sent, through the Mediator, what they termed as their “last best offer.”
The LFEA gave the BOE a written counterproposal, which contained financial
concessions.
At
4:00PM the Mediator informed the LFEA that there would be no response from the
BOE, and the Mediator officially closed negotiations. The LFEA remained on site
even after the Federal mediator had officially closed the meeting. The LFEA
waited until the BOE left the building with the hope that negotiations might
continue.
http://gazebonews.com/2012/09/14/lake-forest-teachers-strike-is-still-on/
The
Board of Education and the Union were unable to reach agreement today. The
Board submitted a last, best offer at 10:00 am this morning. Over the course of
the day, many discussions occurred, but by 4:20 p.m., the Union had not
submitted its last, best offer. At that point the mediator suspended the
discussions. Board representatives are available to receive the Union’s last,
best offer.
The
Board has 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.
■We will be opening school
Monday as a mandatory student attendance day. A full day of instructional
programming will be offered to our students.
■ The Board of Education would
like to reaffirm to our faculty that that they have the right to participate in
a strike by not coming to work. However, they also have a right to not
participate in a strike and report to work. This choice is entirely up to each
individual, and the District will not discipline anyone for making either
choice.
■ Faculty members are welcome to
return to work on Monday. We are reactivating faculty email to deliver this
message. The Board needs a commitment by 7:00am Monday from any teacher who
intends to work on Monday.
The
strike that has closed Lake Forest High School since Wednesday will apparently
continue on Monday; no agreement resulted from Friday’s negoations
with the LFHS Board of Education. Members of the Lake Forest Education
Association went on strike Wednesday after the board failed to offer a fair
contract.
The
board is threatening to hold school on Monday, regardless of the strike and is
telling parents that student attendance is mandatory.
http://www.ieanea.org/featured/board-threatens-teachers/
The
Lake Forest High School varsity and sophomore football games against Lake
Zurich have been canceled due to the ongoing LFHS strike.
According
to the Illinois High School Association, "no team or other entity
representing a member school may participate in an interscholastic contest or
activity during the time the member school is not in session due to a strike by
teachers or other school personnel."
The
cancellation will result in a forfeit loss by the LFHS football teams and a
forfeit win by Lake Zurich. Lake Zurich will have the option of playing an
alternative team tomorrow, but that game will not count as a season win or
loss.
http://lakeforest.patch.com/articles/lfhs-sophomore-football-game-cancelled
-
The girls varsity tennis team has canceled its Friday
match with Moline and is attempting to reschedule.
-
The girls varsity volleyball team will not participate
in Friday’s Maine East Tournament.
-
Friday night’s sophomore football game against Lake Zurich has been canceled.
-
The boys varsity and junior varsity golf matches against
Warren and Zion-Benton on Friday have been rescheduled.
-
The girls junior varsity and
freshman/sophomore tennis team matches with New Trier on Friday have been
rescheduled.
While
a decision on the cancellation and forfeit of Friday’s game against Lake Zurich
would have typically occurred much earlier, Lake Forest athletic director Tim Burkhalter waited until after 4:30 p.m. to announce the
cancellation of the football game in the hope a deal could be reached.
On
Wednesday, Lake Forest coach Chuck Spagnoli crossed
the picket line and ran his team’s practice. Spagnoli,
a health and wellness teacher, did so to prepare his
team to play if an agreement between the union and school board occurred in
time for Friday’s game. Wednesday and Thursday’s practice, according to junior
Regis Durbin, felt like a typical practice.
“They
weren’t different at all,” Durbin said. “They were practically the same. We
still practiced hard and there was no difference. There was no talk of the
strike. We were ready for the game.”
http://lakeforest.suntimes.com/sports/15153889-419/lake-forests-week-of-practice-for-naught.html
Administrators
met with representatives of striking Lake Forest High School teachers into the
night but failed to reach a contract agreement, officials said.
Negotiations
are scheduled to resume Friday morning as the strike enters its third day.
"We've
tried to listen to what their concerns are," school board president Sharon Golan said a few hours before Thursday's
session. "There's a lot."
Before
Thursday's session, leaders said it's all simple enough: If the other is
willing to compromise, the situation can be resolved quickly.
Classes
will resume Monday in suburban Lake Forest, even if teachers there continue
picketing.
Authorities
on Friday said students must report. If the strike continues, volunteers will
provide special educational programs for the students.
Teachers
want an agreement on salary and benefits. They reportedly make an average of
about $100,000 a year.
Update,
Sept. 14, 4:39 p.m. The match between
the varsity football teams at Lake Zurich and Lake Forest was being touted by
sports writers as being one of the top games to watch this week. But that game
won’t happen.
Lake
Zurich High School just announced that the game is officially cancelled. Lake
Zurich will take a forfeit win, according to Jean Malek,
communications director for Lake Zurich Community Unit District 95.
Lake
Forest High School will re-open on Monday morning as a mandatory student
attendance day, with a full day of programming being offered. The school will
initially be using a temporary replacement staff, but the board noted in a
statement that they "strongly believe that our children and community need
our own excellent teaching professionals. That said,
we deeply regret that we have had to authorize legal council
to advise the Board on the issue of permanent replacement workers."
A
spokesperson for the Board noted that at 10 a.m. Friday morning, the Board
submitted a last, best offer. By 4:20 p.m., the Board claimed that the LFEA did
not submit its "last, best offer," at which point the mediator suspended
the discussions for the day.
The
Board said in a statement that they had offered to defer the two-tier salary
schedule to a board and faculty committee, and also offered to phase in the HMO
insurance change. The LFEA did not, however, agree to the offer. The issue of
salary also remains a contentious issue, with the LFEA demanding an increase of
5-6.5 percent increase per year. (The Board said that it was not able to
disclose its "last best offer").
Today
the Board filed an unfair labor practice claim with the Illinois Educational
Labor Relations Board. The LFEA filed an unfair labor practice claim against
the Board on Sept. 11. In the Board's claim, they noted that the LFEA failed to
bargain in good faith as exhibited by:
-"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 Aug. 17, 2012, before the District had a
chance to review the proposal and one week before it was set for publication by
the IELRB."
-"Refusing
to attend a mediation session where representatives from the District and a
mediator were present on Sept. 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 accuses, despite the fact that
such a proposal would violate both the Illinois School and the Illinois Grant
Funds Recovery Act."
Editor's
correction: A previous version of this story stated that the LFEA and the Board
agreed on the HMO and two-tier issues. This is not correct, and these issues
remain in negotiations.
http://lakeforest.patch.com/articles/board-union-fail-to-reach-agreement-but-school-resumes-monday
Teachers
at Lake Forest High School remain on strike this Friday morning, and classes
are again cancelled.
The
main concerns have been salary relations and a proposed restructuring of the
salary schedule.
Teachers
say they accepted a pay freeze last year due to the down economy, and now they
say the school board is trying to lock in those sacrifices by creating a
two-tiered system of hiring in which new teachers won’t be paid at the same
rate as current employees.
But
opponents of the strike accuse teachers of being greedy.
School
will be in session at Lake Forest High School on Monday, but no agreement was
reached Friday after more than seven hours of negotiations between striking
teachers and the District 115 board.
The
mediator suspended discussions at 4:20 p.m. Friday when the Lake Forest
Education Association had not submitted its last, best offer, according to a
statement released by the school board. The school board issued its best offer
at 10 a.m., an hour into negotiations.
LFEA
negotiators will return to the bargaining table at 10 a.m. on Saturday with the
hope that the school board will be willing to bargain “towards a fair and
equitable contract.”
“Each
day the strike progresses, the adverse impact on our students
increases,” School Board President Sharon Golan said. “The board’s primary goal
remains the same — to serve our students.”
The
teachers union on Monday filed four unfair labor practices charges against
District 115 board members, alleging a change in the school calendar to make
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday teachers institute days was a violation, among
other issues.
Working
through the mediator, the school 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 an HMO insurance change that would require teachers to pay more out-of-pocket,
according to a statement released by the school board.
While
the union said they put another financial offer on the table, the board
contends the union is still demanding salary increases of 5 percent to 6.5
percent a year. The board has rejected those terms and requested an undisclosed
counter proposal, which the union declined.
If
no deal is reached by Monday, the exact nature of the academic program the
district will offer to students on Monday is not clear. District 115 spokeswoman Anne Whipple said district administrators will
provide instruction, while volunteers from the community have been recruited to
help.
The
community volunteers are “not going to be teachers,” Whipple said.
An
announcement on the school’s website said the school will run on its regular
Monday schedule, buses will be running, attendance will be taken and “most”
athletic contests will be held. It’s unclear whether the day will actually
count as an attendance day by state standards.
As
the teachers strike continues on north suburban Lake Forest, the school board
is taking hard line approach.
Even
if their teachers strike continues into Monday, all students are expected to
attend school.
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=8811428
Teachers
in Lake Forest might not be back in the classroom by Monday, but their students
will.
Lake
Forest High School will have a mandatory "all day academic program"
Monday. Buses will be running, attendance will count, and school officials say
most athletic events will be held.
http://www.my50chicago.com/story/19549567/lake-forest-high-school