Less than two weeks before students are due back in class, teachers in affluent Bannockburn School District 106 have filed a notice of their intent to strike.
A union representative said Friday that the teachers filed the notice because the board has refused to enter into binding arbitration to settle 10 outstanding issues. Binding arbitration allows a third party to meet with both sides, hear the issues and make a final decision.
“The teachers are more than willing to accept that things could go against them (in arbitration),” said Penny Upton, the field representative for the Illinois Education Association. “. . . It’s gotten more tense lately and what the teachers are looking for is closure.”
The intent, filed with the Lake County Regional Superintendent’s Office and the Illinois Labor Relations Board, is required by law before teachers can strike. Teachers are due back in school Aug. 25 and students the following day.
A mediation session between the board and the teachers is scheduled on Wednesday.
The union and school district have been working for 13 months on the first contract in the North Shore district, which serves pupils in kindergarten through 8th grade. There are 220 students in the small district, which serves parts of Bannockburn, Deerfield, Highland Park, Delmar Woods and Riverwoods.
School officials said they were surprised by the teachers’ move and are now preparing for a strike.
“The board is very disappointed in the teachers’ decision,” Supt. Roger Prosise said. “Based on the last proposal, there was some optimism on the part of the board. . . . (Now) I am very concerned.
“Work toward agreement would be the first option and then plan for a strike. We’re beginning to develop that plan.”
Prosise said the board elected not to go into arbitration on the advice of the district’s attorney.
School and union officials agree that salary and benefits are the stickiest points in the negotiations.
Upton said the board is offering a 19 percent salary increase over four years and the teachers are asking for a 26 percent increase over three years.
Upton said salaries in Bannockburn rank in the bottom third of all Lake County school districts–a fact that convinced teachers to unionize in May 1996.
“They began to realize they were paid far less and they needed resources,” Upton said.
According to 1996-97 salary statistics from the Lake County Regional Office of Education, the average salary for Bannockburn teachers with a bachelor’s degree plus 30 hours of continuing education was $48,600. In nearby Deerfield District 109, the average was $57,600. In that same year, the average starting salary for a Bannockburn teacher with a bachelor’s degree was $27,300; for Deerfield it was $29,200.
The last time Bannockburn teachers received a salary increase was in the 1995-96 school year, when they got a 5 percent raise, Prosise said.
