March 17, 2011:

 

…the District 115 contract is extremely generous. For the most part, District 115 pays between 90 and 100 percent of the individual health care premiums and between 80 and 100 percent of family premiums. Those amounts include dental.

 

Regarding pensions, a few years ago legislation was passed to try to slow down spiking salaries to build fat pensions. Districts used to give 20-20 percent or 10-10-10 percent salary hikes in the last few years of teaching. Legislation then limited these increases to 6-6-6-6 percent.

 

The 6-6-6-6 maximum by law is in place for retiring teachers in District 115. To make up for the lost concessions mandated by the law change, the union in District 115, as in many districts, bargained for a “post-retirement lump sum payment.” The lump sum retirement payments to teachers in District 115 range from $12,000 to $34,000.

 

Those who work at private sector jobs will undoubtedly find the present contract in Lake Forest District 115 to be quite generous. As demonstrated in Wisconsin, once public unions receive concessions through bargaining, both unions and its public sector workers fight tooth and nail to prevent benefits from being taken away.

 

http://nancyjthorner.wordpress.com/2011/03/03/comcessions-needed-to-stem-lfhs-shortfall/

 

 

 

 

 

March 17, 2011:

 

Just to recap from the prior two installments, Harry Griffith is the second highest paid Superintendent in the State of Illinois, although he doesn’t seem to have the level of challenge or responsibility other Illinois Superintendents have. Furthermore, the benefit package Mr. Griffith receives from the School Boards exceeds that of many executives in the private sector who live in our community. Mr. Griffith is a civil servant and paid by taxpayer dollars. This distinction seems to be lost on the 14 members on both Lake Forest School Boards who agreed to Mr. Griffith’s retirement package. In the public sector where taxpayer dollars are being used, there is no place for such lavish compensation packages.

 

http://nancyjthorner.wordpress.com/2011/03/17/lake-forest-superintendent-dr-harry-griffiths-retirement-package-over-the-top/

 

 

 

 

 

 

May, 2011:

 

The Class of 2009 matched the previous all-time high composite for the ACT test with a mean score of 25.6, ranking the high school fifth statewide compared to other open enrollment public high schools. Ninety-one percent of the Class of 2009-10 enrolled in a four-year college.

 

http://lakeforest.patch.com/listings/lake-forest-high-school

 

 

 

 

 

May 31, 2011:

 

The average salary for a teacher with 13 years experience at Lake Forest High School is $101,648.28, according to an analysis by the Chicago Sun-Times.

 

Lake Forest High School District 115 ranked second to District 113, which includes Highland Park and Deerfield high schools, in average salaries for about the same experience level. A District 113 teacher with 13.5 years experience earns $104,737.21 annually.

 

http://lakeforest.patch.com/articles/lake-forest-high-school-teacher-pay-ranks-2nd-behind-district-113

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sept 15, 2011:

 

Lake Forest High School’s Class of 2011 set a record for the highest ACT scores in the school’s history with a composite score of 26.8.

 

Additionally, each and every section or subset of the college entrance examination was also the highest score in Lake Forest High School’s history. This year’s results surpassed the previous record high of 26.3 set by the Class of 2010. Lake Forest High School’s 5-Year ACT Trend History. The state average was 20.9 and the national average was 21.1. The ACT scoring scale is 1 to 36.

 

 Lake Forest High School also heralds three students with a perfect composite score of 36. Nationwide, less than one tenth of one percent of students achieves a perfect score.

 

 The Class of 2011 received all-time high scores on the mathematics, English, reading and science sections of the exam. The mathematics score was 26.9; the English score of 27.3, a reading section score of 26.7, and the science score of 25.9 all surpassed previous district records.

 

http://lakeforest.patch.com/articles/lake-forest-high-schools-class-of-2011-sets-act-record

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nov 1, 2011:

 

As a sign of solidarity last week, Lake Forest High School teachers came to class reportedly wearing matching T-shirts amid an expired, five-year contract and negotiations for a new one on the table.

 

It’s union stuff,” said District 115 Board of Education President Sharon Golan. “School went on, teaching went on. There was no disruption.”

 

It is too early to tell whether there are grounds for speculation that teachers will picket along the front lawn of the 75-year-old high school, Golan said.

 

http://lakeforest.patch.com/articles/mediator-brought-in-for-district-115-teacher-contract-negotiations

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nov 3, 2011:

 

Lead negotiator Chuck Gress, a mathematics teacher for more than 20 years at the high school, claims the school board has asked teachers to accept a pay freeze, a decrease in its retirement benefits and pay more toward health insurance in the next contract.

 

“When you add it all up,” he argued, “our compensation package would, literally, take a pay cut.”

 

Gress spoke Thursday morning while more than 50 unionized Lake Forest High School teachers walked up and down in front of the school carrying signs that read 'Don't Cut Our Pay,' 'Fair Pay' and 'We've Earned a Fair and Equitable Contract,' against a backdrop of parents dropping off their kids before the first bell rang.

 

In a recent phone interview with Patch, District 115 Board of Education President Sharon Golan said the economic backdrop for the negotiations is different from when the last contract was negotiated in 2006.

 

“It was, really, a very different world prior to 2008,” she stressed. “We negotiated (then) a contract that was competitive with the other high-ranking school districts.”

 

As for a strike in the near future, Golan doesn't expect one.

 

“I think anytime people hear the words ‘union’ and ‘negotiations,’ they jump to that word (strike), but it’s not expected at this point,” she said.

 

However, if a suitable teacher's contract isn't reached by Monday, when both parties meet next, Gress said it's a “possibility that we'll take a strike vote.”

 

http://lakeforest.patch.com/articles/lake-forest-teachers-picket-high-school

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nov 3, 2011:

 

We recognize that our previous negotiations resulted in one of the most competitive teaching contracts in the state of Illinois. The LFEA worked very hard in past negotiations through the arduous collective bargaining process to earn the benefits afforded by our now expired contract. As a result of tireless work, we essentially “caught up” to commensurate districts in the last two (2) years of our previous contract.  Our standing was finally equitable.  We neither significantly exceeded any comparative district (Highland Park-Deerfield, New Trier, Stevenson, et al.), nor did we lag behind.  For two years, we were “right in the pack.”

 

The Board of Education has not made any substantive financial and benefit offer since September. Their current offer constitutes a diminution of salary, retirement, and insurance benefits. The current Board offer would once again put LFHS significantly behind these competing districts. Please ask them why this must be the case.

 

The LFEA is ready to get on with our vocation while maintaining the compensation that took over a decade to earn -- if only for the last two years.  As we have in past negotiations, we ask for nothing more than the status quo—parity with comparable school districts.

 

http://lakeforest.patch.com/articles/letter-from-lake-forest-education-association-to-parents

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nov 10, 2011:

 

We would like to once again update you on the status of the teacher contract negotiations. We began this process in April of 2011. The Union was only willing to meet with the Board once over the summer. We returned to negotiations in late August but after only two meetings, the Union requested we move to mediation.

 

At our mediation session on Monday, November 7 at the Union's request, we presented final offers. The Union did not accept our offer, leaving us at an impasse. The teams are scheduled to meet again Tuesday, November 15.

 

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs081/1102000766048/archive/1108551722086.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nov 10, 2011:

 

Superintendent Dr. Harry Griffith said at Tuesday night's District 115 board meeting that the board's proposal looks to restore its reserves to healthier levels, while increasing teachers' pay by 10 percent over a four-year period.

 

Negotiations started in April, and teachers have been working without a contract since it expired June 30. A federal mediator was brought in two weeks ago, prompting the first email from District 115 to parents of Lake Forest High School students on the state of the negotiations.

 

The previous contract impasse occurred in 2006, and teachers conducted pickets that year as well and eventually received a contract that paid 5.5 percent annually, including a 6.1 percent average salary increase in 2010-11.

 

School Board President Sharon Golan previously had said the economic backdrop for this year’s negotiations is different from when the last contract was negotiated in 2006. Along with staff cuts of roughly 8 percent and pay freezes for about 150 nonunion employees, the board has kept classes near their historic high, 21 students per teacher, and has avoided programming cuts.

 

http://lakeforest.patch.com/articles/district-115-teacher-s-union-and-board-of-ed-deadlock-in-negotiations

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

January 20:

 

There is perhaps no more frustrating action against the public than teachers’ strikes. While teachers have the advantage of being home with their kids every day after school, school holidays, and summer vacations and even during strikes non-teacher parents have to scramble for kid-coverage during those very same periods.

 

Lake Forest Dist. 115 has authorized a strike if a new contract cannot be reached by Dec. 7. Note that LF 115 employees average over $106,000/yr. salary.

 

The right to strike by any public employee should be limited. Perhaps the teachers should lose their tenure if they strike. How many of the 19,000 K-12 employees making more than $10,000/mo. would go on strike with the threat of tenure loss hanging over their heads? Not many would be my guess.

 

Let’s take back the schools from the teacher unions. Or alternatively let’s give more of our students to the Diocese of Chicago via vouchers and save more than 50% of our education costs.

 

http://www.championnews.net/2012/01/20/with-75000-unemployed-teachers-in-illinois-why-don%E2%80%99t-we-just-replace-any-that-go-on-strike/

 

 

 

 

June 25:

 

 

Bill Zettler of the Family Taxpayers Foundation has written over 150 articles on Illinois teacher salaries and pension since 2005. His book, “Illinois Pension Scam,” was published this year and can be purchased from www.championnews.net.

 

Wisconsin has eight teachers with salaries over $100,000. Illinois has 7,848 teachers with $100,000-plus salaries, 445 times more than the bordering states of Kentucky, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Missouri combined.

 

LF District 115 is represented by two of Illinois’s top 19 teacher retirees in 2011 already have a beginning pension of over $100,000: Anthony Fillippo ($117,038 - 34 years, age 56) and Evan Richards ($106,299 - 35 years, age 57).

 

As excessive salaries lead to excessively high pensions, is it any wonder that Illinois has the worst-funded pensions in the nation?

 

Isn’t it time that LF School Board 115 participate in fiscal discipline in an economic climate where property taxes are already straining the pocketbooks of many local taxpayers? Perhaps there should be a freeze on teacher and supervisory salaries? Why should the beginning salary of Harry Griffith’s replacement, Michael Stimeck at $250,000, nearly equal the level of Illinois’s top 100 administrators?

 

Why also should Lake Forest District 115, as determined by Bill Zettler from a report issued by the Illinois State Board of Education, rank as No. 1 in real cost/pupil in all of Illinois at $43,061 per student?

 

http://lakeforest.suntimes.com/opinions/letters/13399386-474/fiscal-discipline-called-for-at-lake-forest-high-school.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

July 23:

 

With the opening of school August 27, the Lake Forest High School teachers remain without a contract with both the educators and the administration claiming issues of compensation and benefits remain to be resolved.

 

“The mediation session did not produce an agreement and we do not have a date yet for another,” Golan said. The dispute has been going on a year. The parties could not agree on a long term contract last year and settled for a one-year pact.

 

Though the union membership voted 104-3 to authorize their leaders to declare a strike, no work stoppage can occur until at least 28 days after the declaration of an impasse by the teachers, according to Illinois Education Association staff member Mark Stein. No impasse has been declared.

 

http://lakeforest.patch.com/articles/lfhs-teachers-remain-without-a-contract

 

8 comments:

 

“Gary”

 

That's what I thought.

 

So, our school board can't find a way to placate the union, the situation is degenerating, the teachers voted 104-3 to authorize a strike... and we don't have a right to know what the issues are or what they are demanding. Unbelievable.

 

This is our town, our taxes, our school, and our children... and we have no right to know what is being asked of us. We are kept out of the process by law. What kind of negotiation is that?

 

Am I the only one who has a big problem with this?

 

 

“Me”

 

Aren't these teachers already some of the highest paid in the state if not in the country? Don't get me wrong, the teachers are not the enemy here but they do need to be reasonable.

 

For me, the real enemy is the administration. The amount that is spent on the superintendent and his army of assistants is obscene.

 

 

“Laura”

 

Let them walk, let them leave. In an economic time when the citizens of the community are struggling financially, and most have to either pay into their healthcare of pay it completely, the teachers are being unreasonable. They are some of the most well paid teachers in the STATE. If it isn't good enough here, go somewhere else. I have little sympathy for the teachers, who have more days off than anyone I know. Do they really think that they are the only ones who take their work home when the day is done? Sorry. Go strike. I'll cross the picket line and teach the kids. I'll even be NICE to them. Which is more than can be said for many in the building.