Geneva teachers won't go on strike Tuesday
Geneva teachers rallied again Monday evening before a school board meeting to demonstrate support as contract talks continue. A large crowd gathered outside the meeting at Geneva Middle School South's cafeteria.
The Geneva Education Association had asked parents and other members of the community to attend and speak to the board.
"What happens at the bargaining table doesn't just affect our educators," said GEA President Kevin Gannon in a news release. "The whole community is impacted. Their voices should be heard and the meeting will provide a great opportunity for the board to hear from our community."
Tuesday is the first day the teachers legally could strike, but Gannon said that would not happen unless the union first gave parents adequate notice.
"The GEA will not go on strike tomorrow," Gannon said in a statement released Monday night. "We have decided to give the board of education some time to reflect on the comments from the community this evening. We hope the board will keep the community's thoughts in mind when we meet for our next negotiating session on Wednesday."
On Sept. 30 the union membership authorized leaders to call a strike, and the union has submitted a 10-day notice-of-intent.
The bargaining teams last met Oct. 30. A joint announcement the next day described the session as "successful in making progress."
Geneva schools are closed next week for teacher-parent conferences and the Thanksgiving Day holiday.
Meanwhile, the union has posted on its website a few of the letters teachers have submitted to the school board.
In one, a teacher with nine years experience and two master's degrees says she works summers as a nanny, and that she and her fiance also mow lawns to make ends meet. The district's 2017-18 salary report indicates her base pay is $60,097.
A second-year teacher wrote that, due to a combination of her pay, her student loan payments and other bills, she can't afford to live on her own. The report indicated her base bay is $42,770. She would earn more if she had a master's degree.
"With the lane advancement limitations that are currently in place, I will have to start paying for my degree before I start getting paid for it. I do not know of any other career that does not reward you right away for furthering your education, let alone having to wait four years," she wrote.
The union wants to continue using a salary schedule commonly called "step and lane," where teachers are paid based on years of experience (the steps) and how much education they have (lanes).