District 54 approves 3-year contracts with teachers, support staff

Average annual salary increases of 2 percent are provided by new three-year contracts Schaumburg Township Elementary District 54 school board members have approved with the teachers and educational support staff unions.

The contracts with the Schaumburg Education Association (SEA) representing the teachers, and the Schaumburg Educational Employees Organization (SEEO) representing support staff, will take effect July 1 and expire June 30, 2021.

The school board's vote on the SEEO contract was unanimous. Board member Bob Kaplan abstained from the SEA contract vote because he has a sister and a daughter who are members, board President Mary Kay Prusnick said.

As in the past, two board members were present in the negotiating room to observe and listen, but most of the board's work was done when all seven members were together in closed session, Prusnick added.

"We were thrilled with how the contract turned out," she said. "This contract values the incredible teachers of District 54."

SEA President Chery Anderson said a historic high of 94 percent of members voted in favor of the contract, something she and her negotiating team have taken pride in.

Negotiations with the school board began in January and finished in March.

"We have such a good collaboration and we're in it for the same reason - the kids," Anderson said. "It really honors how the district thinks of our members."

Employees represented by the SEEO include classroom and library resource paraprofessionals, registered nurses and building secretaries.

SEEO President Kathy Jesuit said the 97 percent favorable vote from her union's members also is an all-time high among the five or six contracts she's overseen.

"The members were excited," Jesuit said. "It was very collaborative. People were just pleased that the negotiations went well."

She added she has never been involved with a contract negotiation with District 54 that went beyond the expiration of the previous contract.