District 86 reaches deal with teachers to avoid strike
Just days before a possible strike, Hinsdale High School District 86 and its teachers union have reached a tentative contract agreement.
Details of the agreement weren't released Thursday night. The contract must be ratified by both the union membership and the school board.
"We are so pleased to make this joint announcement tonight, ending speculation about a potential strike," District 86 Superintendent Bruce Law said in a statement. "This resolution will allow everyone to refocus their energies on the excellent education we provide to all of our students and will restore the natural rhythm of the school year. This move reinvigorates all of us and is a positive step forward."
Last week, the Hinsdale High School Teachers Association filed a 10-day notice to strike with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board. As a result, the 377 members of the union - including teachers, guidance counselors and social workers - could have walked off the job as early as Tuesday.
In the statement released by both the union and the district, Jeff Waterman, the association's lead negotiator, said the tentative agreement "recognizes the contribution that our teachers make in the lives of District 86 students each and every day."
"We want to thank the community for their tremendous support during this process," Waterman said. "We believe this deal will give our teachers the opportunity to continue to provide the high quality education for which the District is renown while granting teachers access to the professional growth and development that enables them to be so successful in the classroom."
Until Thursday, a variety of issues divided the two sides.
The district, for example, wanted to offer step, or experience, pay increases based on a new 35-step salary scale. The union wanted the district to continue to have a salary schedule with 19 steps, but with some modifications.
One-third of the district's teachers are at the top of the pay scale. Right now, they are paid a base salary of about $127,000 a year. Teachers at the bottom of the scale make about $53,000 a year.
School board members, who say they're looking to hold the line on salaries and benefits, placed an advisory referendum question on the November ballot asking voters if teachers should continue to receive 6 percent annual pay increases during their last four years on the job. In addition to giving teachers more money, critics say, those raises also serve to pad their pensions.
District 86 also wanted to adopt a spousal surcharge for health insurance, reduce the number of preparation periods for PE teachers and make changes to retiree health care insurance.
Officials said details about the latest proposal will be released once the agreement is approved by both parties. The full membership of the union will vote first on the proposal. Then the school board will vote on it.
District 86 includes students from Hinsdale, Darien, Clarendon Hills, Burr Ridge, Oak Brook, Westmont and Willowbrook who attend Hinsdale Central and Hinsdale South.