Getting D211 facts straightened out

To the editor: In response to Mario Giannone, Oct. 22.

I understand that a potential strike is a very emotional issue. No teacher in District 211 "wants" to strike. In the 30-plus years of unionization they have never struck. They have understood how extreme an action this is.

I have no complaint about how hard I work. Everyone works hard these days to earn a decent living. We simply want the opportunity to do the same.

As for the referendum of 2005 -- many teachers in District 211 also live here, and pay increased property taxes along with other residents.

A teacher's step increase is based on experience and level of education. The maximum steps is 20. The only other increase in District 211 is at 25 years of experience (assuming the teacher has 12 additional hours of graduate study). In order to collect the maximum pension a teacher works 34 years.

So, for 13 of the last 14 years a teacher works, the only raise he/she receives is the percentage increase in the base salary.

Teachers who retire CANNOT work elsewhere and get paid twice. Once a teacher gets payments from the Teacher Retirement System, they can work only 120 days a year. No retired teacher can sign a contract.

Also mentioned were raises after the referendum. Our contract was up -- of course we negotiated new salaries. We accepted raises for 4.25 percent over the last two years while the CPI has increased 6.14 percent. In order to keep our insurance coverage, we accepted 300 percent increases in premiums. This combination hardly represents a windfall.

He states there are more teachers above the published average salary than below. This is not true. There are 893 teachers listed; 488 are below the average while 405 are above. The "directors" listed on thechampion.org are not department chairs -- they are athletic directors who are not paid according to the teachers schedule.

Mr. Giannone says, "We never hear about them needing money for new computers." True: the money is budgeted and spent each year. This year every classroom has a new computer and all science labs got new machines.

The district budgeted a 4.1 percent increase in teachers' salaries but tells teachers it can only afford 2.5 percent. If the administration had done that with computers, 40 percent of classrooms would be using old machines.

The letter writer is a resident of Barrington. Since no part of Barrington is within District 211, why do you include yourself with the taxpayers of the district? Why would you bother to express so many false, inflammatory opinions about issues that have no bearing on you?

I do agree with one statement that you made -- enough is enough!

Bruce Hildabrand

Schaumburg