WESTMONT – The Maercker Education Association and Maercker School District 60 Board of Education are pleased to announce a tentative agreement on a new multi-year agreement.
With more than 20 years of contract negotiations experience between the District 60 Board and the MEA, the co-presidents of the MEA, Angie Burnett and Sondra LaPointe, are pleased with the respectful tone and collaborative effort by both sides, “We hope these efforts, during this year’s negotiations, have begun to lay the foundation work for this to continue in the future. What is best for our Maercker students was and will always be the driving force of the MEA contract, and we truly believe this agreement puts our students first and also acknowledges the continuous efforts of District 60 teachers. We look forward to working together with our students and community to continue to provide a high-quality public education to all our students.”
Board members Paul Kleppetsch and Drew Sikula served as the board’s negotiating team members and shared, “The last two years created unexpected and unprecedented challenges for the administration, teachers, students, parents and the community. Despite those challenges, these groups all came together to ensure successful outcomes for our students and the district as a whole. As the MEA and the board came together for negotiations on a new contract, the momentum of the collaborative process allowed us to reach a fair compromise that rewards our teachers and also ensures the long-term fiscal health of the district. In today’s day and age, compromise can be tricky as it is hard to please both sides. Thanks to everyone’s good intentions, we came together for the good of our community and achieved a fair agreement that will serve as a strong foundation for years to come.”
Both sides will take action to approve the agreement in April.
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At 135,000 members strong, the Illinois Education Association (IEA) is the largest union in Illinois. The IEA represents PreK-12 teachers outside the city of Chicago and education support staff, higher education faculty and support staff, retired education employees and students preparing to become teachers, statewide.
