Hinsdale district OKs new two-year contract

Hinsdale High School District 86's school board approved a two-year contract with its teachers Monday night in a 4-3 vote.

The board discussed the contract in closed session for an hour and considered tabling a vote until later in the week before ultimately voting and approving the agreement. "We're pleased that this is over but it's important to note that (the district) met a lot of goals with this contract," said Mike Palmquist, spokesman for Hinsdale High School Teachers Association. "They met a lot of financial goals with pension reform and health care. The teachers are pleased that these negotiations have ended, but by no means is this any sort of huge victory for teachers."

Prior to Monday night's meeting, Board President Richard Skoda said there were many questions that remain despite a tentative agreement by both sides.

"The board has not had a chance to discuss this tentative agreement among ourselves after (board negotiators) agreed to it Oct. 9," he said Friday. "The first opportunity that the board has to hear from our negotiators about what is included in this tentative agreement will be Monday night. I, and I assume other members, have questions on the details of the contract that we have not had the opportunity to yet ask or have answered among ourselves."

At Skoda's recommendation, the board voted 4-3 Monday night to go into a closed session to discuss the agreement - and stayed in closed session for about an hour, according to live tweets by The Doings Hinsdale.

About 150 people waited for board members to emerge, at which time board member Ed Corcoran suggested tabling the vote until Friday or Monday so the community would have more time to see the contract. The board took another 20 minutes or so discussing whether to delay the vote, while members of the crowd encouraged the board to vote by chanting "vote, vote, vote," The Doings Hinsdale reported.

Board members eventually moved forward with Kay Gallo, Jennifer Planson, Michael Kuhn, and Victor Casini voting yes.

Skoda, Corcoran and Claudia Manley voted no.

Approval of the contract concludes months of tense negotiations, which included a threat by the teachers association to strike. The association represents 377 teachers.

During negotiations, the district had sought a 35-step salary schedule that would have slowed teachers' abilities to receive maximum pay.

Instead, the approved contract calls for maintaining the current the 19-step scale with a 1 percent increase in pay each year.

The district also had hoped to freeze stipends for extracurricular and after-school programs, but the approved contract calls for "soft freeze" of the salary schedule for coaches, academic club advisers and event chaperones, Palmquist said.

The district also wanted to charge teachers as much as $200 a month for spousal health insurance, but the approved contract settled on a $25 a month surcharge for spouses.

The contract also agrees to a three percent raise in each of the last four years of a teacher's career, if several conditions are met, Palmquist said. Conditions include if a teacher declares retirement at least four years in advance and have taught in the district for 15 years, among other things, he said.

"This is the most contentious negotiations we've had," Palmquist said. "Negotiations are never fun. There was enormous community involvement at the end, which was, I think, key to having the contract settled."

• Daily Herald staff writers Robert Sanchez and Jake Griffin contributed to this report.