LuAnn Casurella, a sixth-grade teacher at MacArthur Middle School in Prospect Heights, yells out "PH" as others say "EA" during the second day of the Prospect Heights Elementary District 23 teachers strike Thursday. PHEA stands for Prospect Heights Elementary Association. Casurella has been a teacher for 37 years.
Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com
Prospect Heights Elementary District 23 teachers will return to the picket lines for a third day Friday after more than three hours of negotiations Thursday night between the school district and union failed to bear fruit.
Dan Perillo, a physical education teacher at Douglas MacArthur Middle School and a member of the union negotiation team, said the talks lasted almost four hours.
"After our last offer on Tuesday night the board of education notified us they had room to move," Perillo said, speaking on behalf of the union. "But they presented us with the same proposal that put us on the strike line."
Perillo said that after Tuesday night's negotiations, the two sides were $450,000 apart in total salary over the life of the three year contract and there was no progress achieved Thursday night.
School Board President Mari-Lynn Peters said the board is struggling to understand why the union refused to continue to negotiate.
"The board doesn't understand why the union doesn't agree to sign tentative agreements on the items where the two parties' proposals are so similar," Peters said in a voice-mail message late Thursday.
The next negotiation between the two sides will be Sunday at 6 p.m.
Many of the district's students, who live in portions of Prospect Heights, Arlington Heights, Wheeling and Mount Prospect, attended park district programs in lieu of school Wednesday and Thursday.
Amy Mailloux, a math teacher at MacArthur Middle School, leads one of the strike lines along Palatine Road during the second day of the Prospect Heights Elementary District 23 teachers strike Thursday. Mailloux has been a teacher for 17 years.
Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com
MacArthur Middle School physical education and health teacher Shelly Kutcher (with sign facing) walks the picket line with fellow teachers during the second day of the Prospect Heights Elementary District 23 teachers strike Thursday.
Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com
Students sit in a parking lot while watching teachers walk the picket line along Palatine Road during the second day of the Prospect Heights Elementary District 23 teachers strike Thursday.
Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com
Teachers were on strike for a second day Thursday in Prospect Heights Elementary District 23. Negotiations were schedule to resume Thursday night.
Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com
Signs of strikers taking a break sit in a pile during the second day of the Prospect Heights Elementary District 23 teachers strike Thursday. Teachers were taking shifts walking the picket line, said union Secretary Lee Wright.
Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com