U-46, teachers agree on contract
After nearly 180 hours of negotiations, Elgin Area School District U-46 and its teachers have hammered out a tentative three-year deal, officials said Saturday.
The previous three-year contract governing the state's second-largest teachers union expired Aug. 19. Students came back to class Aug. 22.
Officials on both sides of the table declined to release details of the pact, saying the specifics first must be shared with the more than 2,000 union members. That will happen in coming weeks.
But, "I would say that, overall, the conversation at the bargaining table was productive and professional," union President Tim Davis said.
The two sides began their negotiations in May, Davis said, pushing through nearly two dozen sessions including a late-night meeting Friday that nearly spilled into Saturday.
Throughout the process, officials identified health care and class size as key issues.
"Both sides … really talked about a lot of issues facing education, both in U-46 and across the country," district spokesman Tony Sanders said. "They had a good discussion, and the tentative agreement reflects that."
The previous contract -- which more than 30 percent of union members voted against -- featured a new health policy that reined in benefit costs and offered a 3.35 percent pay raise in the first year of the deal. At the time, that upped the base salary for a new teacher to $28,684. In subsequent years of that deal, pay raises were tied to the rate of inflation.
The new deal, if approved by the union and the board, would start with this school year; any raises would be retroactive to the year's start.
The tentative contract comes on the heels of an announcement that district Superintendent Connie Neal will be taking a medical leave of absence from her position. The district did not disclose details regarding her health. The leave is effective Friday.
In Neal's absence, district officials have decided to appoint Mary Jayne Broncato -- an educator who's served as a superintendent in Joliet, held high-level positions within the Illinois Board State Board of Education and worked with U-46 as a consultant -- as interim superintendent.