Educators are without a contract as start of the school year quickly approaches.
NAPERVILLE — Naperville teachers, parents and community members will rally, march and pack the Naperville Community Unit School District 203 Board of Education (BOE) meeting Monday night. They are calling on the board to reach an agreement on a fair contract before the start of the school year. Students return to District 203 schools on Aug. 14.
“We want to start this school year off on the right foot: in our classrooms with our students. The board has a history of dragging out negotiations and letting them linger up to and even into the school year. We think that’s unfair to our students. They deserve their teachers to be solely focused on their education, not distracted by contract discussions,” Naperville Unit Education Association (NUEA) President Ross Berkley said.
NUEA represents more than 1500 teachers and licensed staff serving the nearly 16,000 students who attend school in District 203. The BOE and NUEA began negotiations in February. NUEA’s current contract expired on June 30, which means there is no contract in place for the start of the school year. In July, NUEA initiated the public posting process with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board (IELRB), which is the first step toward a possible strike.
“We initiated the public posting process not because we want to go on strike, but because we want to be transparent with our community. We believe strongly that all stakeholders need to work together, so we can provide the best education for all our students,” Berkley said.
At issue are:
- Drastic changes to the structure of the students’ school days: The changes to the school day being proposed by the district could move some school day start and end times, causing major shifts in the timing of after school activities and in some cases leave less learning time for students throughout the school day.
- Salary: District 203 is falling behind in offering competitive salary packages. Teacher workload has significantly increased with the expectation of differentiated learning combined with increased student academic, behavior and social-emotional needs. Surrounding school districts with lesser academic achievement have a higher base salary. These districts include Indian Prairie School District 204, Elmhurst 204, Barrington 202, St. Charles 303, Wheaton 200 and Plainfield 202 among others.
“The long bargain is due in part to the board arriving at the table with proposals that are not well thought out or fully developed because of the proposed changes to the school day. The school district is not prepared to implement these changes,” Berkley said. “And honestly, our parents need to be a part of this conversation. There needs to be more discussion with the community about the proposed changes.”
NUEA has done extensive research to support its proposals, including a cost analysis that shows the district has more than 300 days of cash on hand, which is nearly twice the amount recommended by the Illinois State Board of Education.
“Listen, we’re teachers, we’ve done the math. We know the district can afford to meet our requests,” Berkley said. “We are in the middle of a national educator shortage and without competitive wages we are going to lose the experienced, dedicated educators we have. Plus, we won’t be able to recruit talented, new teachers either. Our students deserve better.”
The rally will begin at 5:30 at Naperville Central High School (440 W. Aurora Ave., Naperville). Supporters will march to the District 203 Administration Center (203 W. Hillside Rd., Naperville). The BOE meeting begins at 7 at the District 203 Administration Center. Several educators and parents plan to speak during open session. The next bargaining sessions are set for Aug. 7 and 8.
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The 135,000 member Illinois Education Association (IEA-NEA) is the state’s largest union. IEA represents Pre K-12 teachers outside the city of Chicago and education support staff, higher education faculty, retired education employees and students preparing to become teachers, statewide.
