Teachers Union Sends Notice of Strike; Earliest Date Would be Dec. 7

Among the mail to be delivered Monday to Lake Forest School District 115 will be a notice of strike from the Lake Forest Education Association (LFEA), which is representing teachers in the current contract negotiations.

The notice does not mean the teachers will strike, but it lays the groundwork in case they choose to.

“I hope not,” said Mark Stein, UniServ director with the Illinois Education Association. Stein has sat on the teacher’s negotiating team since contract talks began in April.

The earliest strike date would be Dec. 7, Stein said. However, the two sides are slated to meet again Nov. 15, though Stein said Friday that he hasn’t heard official confirmation from the federal mediator.

• See related story: Teachers, District 115 at an Impasse

Stein said the most recent impasse came partly as a result of the District 115 School Board not coming to the table with a new proposal.

“They keep giving us the same proposal over and over and over,” Stein said. “We offered to negotiate a one-year contract and then see where their finances are, but they want a multi-year contract.”

By the Numbers

Stein said step-raises at Lake Forest High School are 2.1 percent, and the one-year contract included a pay raise under 4 percent. “But that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t move off it if a multi-year contract made sense,” he said.

Stein said the assertion by Superintendent Dr. Harry Griffith at the Nov. 8 Board meeting that the teacher's union proposed an 8 percent to 9 percent increase within two years of the new contract was completely false.

"I know Dr. Griffith pretty well, and it may have been a case where he was talking off the top of his head," Stein said.

According to Stein, the School Board estimates future revenues on an “unrealistically low projection” of where the Consumer Price Index (CPI) will be. School District revenue is based on CPI, he added.

“The Board insists on using a figure of 2 percent despite the fact that CPI is currently running in the area of 3.8 percent,” Stein said, noting a new CPI report is due next week. “In contrast, the LFEA has been using an extremely conservative projection of 2.8 percent. The Board has been attempting to force the LFEA to accept a four-year contract based on an unsound financial projection.”

Addendums to Reserves Issue

School Board President Sharon Golan has said the district’s reserves are well below board target and to draw on them to pay for the contract is not an option. Stein agreed that the district’s reserves are down, but he said the School Board is failing to count the 21 teachers who will retire at the end of this school year.

• See related story: Q&A: District 115 Board of Education President Responds to Teacher Pay Issue, More

Additionally, the LFEA has asked the district to consider not hiring teachers at a higher place on the salary schedule to save money.

“They won’t do that,” Stein said. “They want that option. They want to do what they want to do.”

Teacher Communication

In response to reports that teachers have been speaking to students about the negotiations, Stein said they have been asked not to.

“I’m not sure the context of when those instances have happened if students were asking questions and they were trying to answer them, but we’ve told the teachers that we prefer they not discuss it with students,” Stein said.

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