Schools

Citizen Concern for Teacher Strike Remains Low

Some express concern over situation.

With a possible strike by teachers less than two weeks away, a majority of the lunch time crowd in downtown Lake Forest Wednesday was unaware or unconcerned about the situation.

Unlike a number of Patch readers with passionate views who posted 86 comments as of 6 p.m. Wednesday to , many people were unaware of the potential work stoppage.

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“They’re going to strike?” one person from Lake Forest at Market Square said who declined to give a name.

“I’m really not that knowledgeable,” said another Lake Forest resident dining outside Foodstuffs.

Find out what's happening in Lake Forest-Lake Bluffwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Those who offered an opinion see both sides of the issue and hope to see a settlement rather than a work stoppage.

“It’s very disappointing, especially when you just went through it a year ago,” Jeanna Park of Lake Forest said referring to the talks that ended with a one-year pay freeze in November. “They should have settled it then.”

Last fall, teachers were picketing in front of Lake Forest High School and went so far as to declare impasse requiring both sides to make their final offers public. Shortly after that, the teachers and administration agreed to the one year freeze.

Michelle Hans of Lake Bluff feels for the teachers just as she understands the economic realities of the times. “If my husband came home and said and said he was not getting a raise two years in a row I don’t know what I’d do,” she said. “I hope it can be resolved.”

Maggie Marquardt, a 2007 Lake Forest High School graduate who now lives in Evanston, remembers contract strife between teachers and the District 115 School Board is nothing new. “They almost went on strike when I was in school,” she said.

After the Lake Forest Education Association teachers’ union issued its Notice of Intent to Strike Friday, School Board President Sharon Golan told Patch a strike plan was in place. The plan has not been released to the public and no new date has been set for the two sides to hold another round of talks.

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