No school in Waukegan for rest of week

Schools in Waukegan will remain closed the rest of the week as contract negotiations ended Wednesday evening with no compromise in sight, both sides said.

About 17,000 students in Waukegan Community School District 60 have been out of class since Oct. 2. The school district and the teachers union, which represents 1,200 employees, remain at an impasse on salary increases, as well as other issues.

Both sides expressed increased frustration after Wednesday's negotiations ended for the night at 6 p.m.

"We made it clear that we were willing to stay at the table until a deal was made, Waukegan Teachers' Council President Kathy Schwarz said in a statement. "As promised, we brought bread, peanut butter, and jelly to cut down on meal breaks. There was no reason to end our session today six hours into negotiations."

The district, for its part, accused the teachers union of not submitting a proposal that showed a good-faith effort to negotiate.

"The Board expects that the Union will exploit the early adjournment in the media this evening," the district said in a statement Wednesday night. "They will claim that they brought their sleeping bags and were ready to negotiate for as long as it takes. The Board is left wondering why the Union leaders are so tired and need sleeping bags when they returned from a self-imposed five-day hiatus only yesterday."

The board says it is offering salary increases of 3.8 percent for teachers with less than 22 years of employment, 5.75 percent for teachers with 23 years of employment, and 2 percent for teachers with 24 or more years of employment. The union seeks raises of 6.9 percent, 6 percent and 4 percent, respectively, according to the district.

"If they want to get back into the classroom as much as they claim, why are they proposing offers that show no compromise and are more than triple the increases that many others in Waukegan will receive next year? How can the Union claim they are committed to this community's 17,000 students, while they prolong the strike and continuously bring forward financial demands much higher than the community's taxpayers can afford to finance?" the board said in a statement.

Teachers say the involvement of a mediator that relays all communication between the two groups is slowing the process.

"This early curfew (Wednesday), combined with the fact the Board will only communicate with us through the mediator, slows down the process. We now have to send a message through the mediator, who will relay it to the District representatives, who will then relay it to the Board. If the Board wants to respond, they have to go through the same three layers," Schwarz said.

The district has said using a mediator is best practice when negotiations become as contentious as these.