18

 

 

 

 

 

As WBBM Newsradio’s Bernie Tafoya reports, contract talks lasted until 11 p.m. Monday, and are supposed to resume in the mid-afternoon.

 

Teachers are in the fifth day of their strike, while students are in the second day of being in school during their strike.

 

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/09/18/students-in-class-but-lake-forest-teachers-strike-continues/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Lake Forest High School Board of Education and Union leaders met for 14 hours today, Monday, September 17.

 

The Board reaffirmed that it had taken the two-tiered salary schedule off the table, and expected substantive movement from the Union on their salary proposal. The parties were unable to come to agreement on salary.

 

The Union’ continues to claim that the district’s fund balance will grow by $20 million over the next 3 years. To clarify, the Board agreed to bring in a neutral third party, this person served on both parties’ bargaining teams in the past, and was asked to review the financials and confirm their accuracy. The District’s numbers were analyzed, but the Union declined to meet with the independent reviewer.

 

http://gazebonews.com/2012/09/18/no-progress-on-lake-forest-high-school-teacher-negotiations/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One statement in today's update teacher strike article by Paula Skaggs informed readers that "the Board agreed to bring in a neutral third party to review and verify the claim by the LFEA that the district's fund balance will grow by over $20 million over the next three years."  

 

Why is the District 115 Board giving so much credence to the red herring argument raised by the union that because there might be more money in the till to grab, the Board ought to give it to the teachers? 

 

Salient points, and ones that have been repeatedly emphasized by the taxpayers in the wake of the strike, are:  1) that LFHS teachers are already overly compensated, particularly given that so many highly paid teachers are either performing relatively low-skilled work (drivers' ed) or performing higher level work but doing a marginal or poor job; and 2) that the taxpayers are in desperate need for substantial tax relief -- something that might be possible if the Board holds firm on its current wage increase offer.

 

http://lakeforest.going.com/blog_posts/good-will-by-board-should-soften-hard-union-stance

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nearly 30 Lake Forest High School students attended a candlelight vigil Tuesday night on the spot where their teachers have picketed since Wednesday. They reminisced about their favorites, shared laughs and even broke out in song

 

In the first-ever teachers’ strike at Lake Forest High School — where the administrators and community have joined forces to get students back in class despite the teachers picketing out front — the strain is mounting.

 

Ashley Armstrong and Marissa Saffrin, juniors at LFHS, met at a coffee shop off Market Square Monday night to study Advanced Placement Biology.

 

“We don’t exactly understand what’s going on,” Armstrong said. “We don’t know what to believe.”

 

“I want to get back to normal,” Saffrin said. “We’re getting behind. Missing school is pretty devastating for an AP course.”

 

Members of the Lake Forest City Council voiced their concerns about the teachers’ strike during the regular city council meeting Monday night.

 

Besieged by community members who have sought them out to share their views, aldermen from each of the four wards asked questions of School Board President Sharon Golan, Vice President Jim Carey and Superintendent Michael Simeck during a negotiations update Monday night. The school board and city council are separate governmental bodies.

 

“Almost everybody sitting on this city council has probably taken a salary reduction over the last four or five years,” Fourth Ward Alderman Michael Adelman said. “That’s the reality.”

 

Adelman, who said several times he was speaking personally and not as a member of the city council, termed the teachers’ salary demands “unrealistic.”

 

Armstrong and Saffrin both attended school on Monday, the first day back since the teachers began picketing last week, and both said they will keep going through the strike as long as programming is offered.

 

But neither could say which side they supported.

 

“I’m indifferent,” said Armstrong. “As students, we’re stuck in the middle.” The strike, she said, “probably affects us the most.”

 

Armstrong and Saffrin were among about 1,400 students who attended school Monday and Tuesday, of 1,718 who are enrolled.

 

Whether the days will be counted as official school days is to be determined by State Superintendent of Schools Chris Koch.

 

Simeck said the administrators had programming set up through the end of this week and possibly into the beginning of next, but said it would be “extraordinarily difficult” to bring in 150 substitute teachers to resume regular classes.

 

“We have had a significant number of questions on AP courses and we need to have more emphasis on the math, science, English and social studies core,” he said. “We’re working to that end right now.”

 

Second Ward Alderman George Pandaleon said residents who approached him with comments on the strike were backing the school board to rein in salary increases.

 

“Speaking personally, this pattern of public employee unions holding governments and communities hostage for unrealistic pay that is completely inconsistent with what’s happening in any other part of the economy has to stop,” Pandaleon said.

 

http://lakeforest.suntimes.com/15204153-781/negotiations-ongoing-in-lake-forest.html?print=true

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If the teachers are on strike with no contract, fire them all and hire new teachers. I’ll bet there are a lot of them out there who would be happy to have a job. Then the strikers could march at the unemployment office and ask for their unemployment benefits to include a 5 to 6.5 percent increase. These people need a reality check. It’s “for the kids” my foot.

 

http://newssun.suntimes.com/news/15201677-418/talk-of-the-county.html?print=true

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, unlike Chicago, Lake Forest High School administrators are placing their kids’ education above the politics of the teachers union by doing the unthinkable–using replacement teachers.

 

While teachers remained on strike, the school reopened Monday, apparently with enough students and certified teachers on hand to meet state criteria.

 

more municipalities who find their kids’ education being held hostage to radical teachers’ union bosses should take note of Lake Forest’s example.

 

It’s a lesson that won’t be taught in the classroom anytime soon.

 

http://www.redstate.com/2012/09/18/illinois-high-school-replaces-striking-teachers-and-kids-get-educated-ctustrike/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lake Forest High School athletics are back — for one night, at least.

 

Despite the continuing teachers’ strike, more than 50 percent of the student body attended school Tuesday and received at least five hours of instruction in core subject areas. That allowed the school to meet the state standards for a legal school day, freeing up the athletic teams to compete again.

 

A statement posted to the Lake Forest High School website Tuesday included a schedule for girls and boys cross country races and matches in girls field hockey, girls tennis and boys golf. Practices were scheduled for football, boys soccer, poms, cheerleading, girls volleyball and girls swimming.

 

The statement included a sentence stipulating that the schedule was “pending the final approval of the Illinois High School Association.”

 

Miller’s team is scheduled to play Stevenson on Wednesday and Warren on Friday. She won’t be sure about those matches until the school meets the state’s requirements again and gets approval from the IHSA.

 

http://lincolnwood.suntimes.com/sports/15235727-419/lake-forest-teams-return-to-competition.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In another Patch article, chief union negotiator and Lake Forest High School teacher Charles Gress was quoted as saying that the union’s demands must be met to insure quality teachers for LFHS.

 

That contention is outrageous given that the current tenure and seniority-based union contract has the inevitable result of fostering  mediocrity despite our paying top dollar.

 

http://nancyjthorner.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/will-teacher-union-stance-impede-negotiations-with-lf-district-115-board/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

State education officials said late Tuesday that the two days of classes held at Lake Forest High School while teachers have been strike should not count as legal attendance days.

 

“At this point, we do not believe that the Lake Forest program meets the criteria for a legal school day,” said Mary Fergus, spokeswoman for the Illinois State Board of Education.

 

State education officials did not specify why they didn’t think Lake Forest met the criteria for having Monday and Tuesday count as legal attendance day.

 

Those criteria include having at least 50 percent student attendance – a mark that was easily met both days, according to school officials. The school must also have a specific number of certified teachers on hand. Another factor is the quality of the educational programming.

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-state-ed-board-school-in-lake-forest-without-teachers-shouldnt-count-20120918,0,2144449.story

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is unclear whether students can participate in sports contests while teachers are on strike. School administrators have said the games can go on, but state and county education officials have said the strike must end first.

 

Whenever a resolution comes, school board President Sharon Golan said the district and its teachers will "pull back together" when the strike is over.

 

"This is about the process. It's not about the people, the personalities, at all," Golan said. The strike, she said, "is just a little glitch."

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/suburbs/lake_forest/chi-talks-go-on-as-lake-forest-keeps-school-doors-open-20120918,0,5040870,full.story

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While most eyes are on the Chicago Teachers Union strike affecting inner-city schools, another teachers strike was in its fifth day Tuesday in the wealthy north suburb of Lake Forest, where student-to-teacher ratios are low and salaries high compared to Chicago.

 

The most glaring difference between the strikes? Lake Forest students were in their classrooms, and instruction was taking place Monday and Tuesday. Chicago students were anywhere but their classrooms.

 

The quality of the substitute instruction in Lake Forest is up for debate among local and state education officials, but the school district said about 70 of the temporary teachers were certified educators.

 

Unlike the Chicago strike, which left thousands of inner-city families in a lurch, Lake Forest school officials brought in dozens of certified teachers, volunteers and non-certified teaching assistants to staff the school. They called students back to their classrooms on Monday, even though the strike was ongoing.

 

That’s strike-breaking, plain and simple, said Charlie McBarron, spokesman for the Illinois Education Association, of which the Lake Forest teachers union is an affiliate. The school board’s claims that education is taking place during the strike there are false, he said.

 

“Lake Forest High is a top-quality school because of its teachers. The board should stop pretending to educate students and, instead, offer teachers a fair contract,” he said. “The teachers want to be with the students. The board can make that happen. They should stop pretending and start negotiating.”

 

According to an analysis of the Lake Forest contract by the Illinois Policy Institute, the teachers there currently pay nothing for HMO health insurance. The school board is asking them to pay 10 percent of their premiums.

 

In addition, per-pupil spending there is about $36,000 per student, the student-to-teacher ratio is about 14 to 1, and only 4 percent of Lake Forest students are considered low income.

 

         

http://watchdog.org/56698/il-lake-forest-brings-in-subs-volunteers-to-man-classrooms-during-strike/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Discussions resume Tuesday at 3pm.

 

Even with the strike going, Lake Forest High School was open Monday.

 

Students were greeted by teacher assistants, office employees, and volunteers.

 

The Lake Forest teachers union wants a 5.6 percent salary increase in the first year, 6.5 percent in the second year and 5.6 percent in the third year of a new contract.

 

The school board is offering about half that.

 

http://www.wgntv.com/news/wgntv-lake-forest-teachers-strike-heads-into-5th-day-20120918,0,6172929.story