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Bloomingdale District 13 teachers union set date to ratify new contract

Bloomingdale Elementary District 13 teachers will vote to ratify a proposed contract next month when they return to work for the new school year.

Union members are scheduled to vote on the tentative agreement Aug. 15, Bloomingdale Council of Teachers co-president Kristen Novotny confirmed in an email.

That's also when teachers are set to report to work in the district's two elementary schools and one middle school. Students will begin the school year two days later on Aug. 17.

Union officials have remained mum on contract talks, which began in March. Tiffany Denning, the other co-president, has not returned phone messages seeking comment about the tentative pact and the vote by teachers to ratify it.

Tom Smith, a field service director with the Illinois Federation of Teachers, also could not be reached Thursday.

The two sides came to an agreement last week after a more than three-hour bargaining session. Before that meeting, union and district negotiators had not been at the table since early June. A federal mediator also was involved in the talks.

The previous, three-year contract expired at the end of June and provided annual pay raises. The average Bloomingdale teacher salary is $52,073.

School board President Diane Birkley would not disclose the proposed terms of the agreement. But she said the seven-member board is slated to vote to approve the tentative contract — the “first item on the agenda” — during its own meeting in the district's offices Monday, Aug. 22.

“We're pleased that they're meeting on the 15th,” Birkley said of teachers.

The union represents more than 100 teachers working in a district that serves roughly 1,300 students.

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