Queen Bee District 16, teachers approve 4-year pact

Teachers in Queen Bee Elementary District 16 will begin the 2016-17 school year with a new four-year contract after school board members approved the deal Thursday night.

The contract, which will be posted in full on the Glendale Heights district's website when it becomes effective, calls for a 4 percent salary increase in the first year of the pact and 3 percent in the second. The contract will be reopened for 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 due to fiscal uncertainties involving state and other funding, officials said.

The Queen Bee Education Association, which represents the district's roughly 130 teachers, ratified the contract on May 24.

Superintendent Victoria Tabbert said the major points of the negotiations included a restructuring of the salary schedule, salary increases and increased instructional time.

"These negotiations were a very collaborative process that left everyone very comfortable with all decisions that were made," Tabbert said.

The deal, which follows the current four-year contract that expires at 11:59 p.m. Aug. 21, also eliminates the district's salary schedule that set pay based on years of service. A committee will be established to put a new salary structure in place that addresses teachers' continuing education and master's degree achievements.

Officials expect that process to take about a year and a half.

The new contract calls for no changes in benefit or retirement plans, but it does give teachers an extra 25 minutes a week for "planning time."

Teachers now will receive 200 minutes of preplanning during their workweek, up from 175 minutes a week under the current contract.

District 16 serves nearly 2,000 students in four schools.