Think of the kids in U-46 contract decision

The 2,000 or so teachers who are members of the Elgin Teachers Association — the largest teachers union in the suburbs — are understandably on edge. The members, who staff the 56 schools in Elgin Area School District U-46, have been working without a contract since last August. And their contract before that was only a one-year extension of the 2007-2010 deal.

The union's and administration's negotiating teams announced on March 24 that they'd reached consensus on a new deal and the union soon would put it to a vote of its membership. That came only after the two sides in February asked a federal mediator to help reach a settlement after months of fruitless negotiations.

What followed the announcement was a series of comments on news websites, videos on YouTube, blog posts, email chains, name-calling, nose-thumbing, skewed arguments on both sides, and an abundance of snarkiness, distrust and general consternation. And, on April 12, a 1,319-to-673 vote against the proposed contract.

During that vituperative period, much was claimed about the district's leadership and their fat salaries, the lack of money promised to teachers in the contract, the uncertainty of a clause that would lengthen the school day, the greediness of teachers, the nine-month nature of a teacher's full-time job, the unparalleled pensions, the realities of having to suck it up in the private sector with pay cuts and extra duties.

It was like watching your parents' ugly divorce.

But in this case, very little if anything was said of the kids. You know, the 41,000 children who are educated by the 2,000 teachers in U-46. They just didn't figure into the argument.

And that is the great shame in this whole thing.

After the lopsided vote, the union selected a new bargaining team and polled members on what they felt was most important to get a new contract approved.

And in its third meeting with the mediator since then, the two sides on Friday came to consensus once again.

They haven't disclosed the terms of the tentative deal, nor have they hinted at which of the sticking points were tweaked.

But in another week or so union members should get another chance to vote.

It's our hope that in the lead-up to this vote, those on both sides who earlier threw gasoline on the fire sit this one out. And that those who made their decision based on one person's argument or one piece of the puzzle open up their minds and consider the bigger picture.

We also hope union members show faith in their bargaining team, which must have some comfort in the terms of this new contract proposal.

But most of all, we hope teachers figure into the decision their students, whom we know they love and care for.

For the students there can be no good result to a dispute that can't be resolved.