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Grayslake District 46 board approves tentative deal for teachers

Grayslake Elementary District 46 board members have approved a tentative agreement for a new contract for teachers who went on a three-day strike last month.

Board members at a meeting Wednesday night voted 7-0 in favor of the tentative deal covering the 2012-13 and 2013-14 academic seasons. The elected officials are expected to grant formal approval to the contract after attorneys for the district and Lake County Federation of Teachers union finalize the document's language.

District 46 board President Ray Millington said a hard freeze would be part of the contract's first year. That means no base salary hikes or raises for longevity or teachers who receive additional job-related academic credentials.

Under the contract's second year, said Millington, some teachers would be eligible for a $1,000 base salary increase effective Sept. 15. Other instructors would be eligible to receive a $500 lump-sum stipend Sept. 30.

Teachers who provide a written retirement notice by March 1 would get 5.75 percent base salary hikes in each of their final four years of employment, Millington said. He said instructors who submit a retirement notice after March 1 would receive 4 percent raises in each of their final three years with the district.

Extra duty stipends are frozen for the 2012-13 and 2013-14 school seasons, Millington said. There would be three makeup days because of the strike, he said.

“I want to thank everybody for the work they put into it,” Millington told his District 46 board colleagues. “That was a tremendous effort that we did, along with the union. Instructors, who have been without a deal since July 1, voted 247-60 in favor of the two-year contract at a meeting last week. The 325 teachers went on strike for three days Jan. 16 over retirement incentives, base salary and extra compensation for job-related advanced degrees.

Meanwhile, Lake County Federation of Teachers business agent Jim Pergander said a tentative deal was reached Wednesday for another classification of about 180 union employees. Those workers include teaching assistants, custodians and secretaries. The support employees have been without a contract since July 1. Similar to the teachers, negotiations on a new deal for the support workers began in February 2012.

Pergander said it likely will be about three weeks before the support employees vote on the tentative agreement.

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