Fenton High School teachers will get 4.9% pay raises under new contract
Fenton High School District 100 and its teachers have approved a new five-year contract that provides union members with base salary increases of 4.9% in each of the first two years of the pact.
The school board and Fenton Education Association, the union representing more than 100 teachers, counselors, clinicians and other education professionals in the district, finalized the contract after months of sometimes difficult negotiations.
"Economic circumstances made this negotiation especially challenging for both sides, but we value our teachers and we thank them for their collaborative discussion," Superintendent James Ongtengco said in a statement Thursday. "Fenton High School is a gem among DuPage-area schools and we owe much of our success to the teachers who mentor our students day in and day out. We want to stay competitive and continue our school's upward trajectory."
The contract takes effect retroactively Aug. 14. Under its terms, the base salary increase in the third year of the contract will be subject to a floor of 3% and a ceiling of 4.9%, depending on the Consumer Price Index. In the remaining two years, the annual raises will be no less than 1.5% and no more than 3.5%.
Teachers at the Bensenville high school also will receive step and lane increases tied to their length of employment and education, in addition to the increases to their base pay.
The two sides began formal talks in February. But heading into the new school year, several issues remained on the table. Bargaining teams started meeting with a federal mediator in August.
Fenton Education Association President Patrick Escobedo said Thursday the union is pleased with the new contract.
"We worked tirelessly over the last several months to put a contract in place that preserves the Bison Orange program, a two-tier intervention program to help struggling students, monitors and maintains reasonable class sizes and ensures we will continue to attract and retain talented educators," Escobedo said in a statement. "We are proud to say this contract truly puts students first."
In an effort to draw attention to contract issues, sign-waving teachers and their supporters packed a school board meeting last month, with some parents and former students calling for a resolution and Escobedo declaring "nobody wants a strike."
Ultimately, both sides were able to find common ground, school board President Cary Lewis said. One school board member served on the team that negotiated the new contract, he said.
"I look forward to working together to help our teachers prepare our students for their future and doing whatever we can to help them grow and develop," Lewis said.
Fenton has a 95% teacher retention rate, Illinois State Board of Education data shows. The average salary for a Fenton teacher in 2022 was $109,110, according to the Illinois Report Card.
Board members unanimously adopted the contract Wednesday night after going into closed session and returning to the open meeting. The 67-page contract is posted on the district's website.
When it comes to class sizes, if enrollment in a particular section exceeds 28 students (except for PE, band and choir), the administration will meet with up to three union designees "to evaluate and implement solutions," according to the contract. The designees will be compensated for time spent in such meetings at the rate of summer curriculum hours.
A minimum of eight sections of Bison intervention will be scheduled in each school year during the contract.
The high school now enrolls 1,419 students.