As contract negotiations continue between Palatine-based High School District 211 and its 800-member teachers union, the possibility exists that a new agreement may be reached long before the current contract expires in June.
Since formal bargaining began earlier this month, the two sides have reached common ground on several issues, including salary, benefits and retirement, according to union president John Braglia.
The one matter that remains unresolved is classroom size. Teachers want to establish the maximum number of students per classroom and they want that amount placed in the new contract, he said.
“I’m keeping a good thought,” Braglia said Wednesday after the latest rounds of talks Tuesday night. “The superintendent and I have a lot invested.”
Braglia and District Supt. Gerald Chapman began meeting informally last May.
“We call it `interest-based bargaining.’ It gets us away from the old `us’ versus `them’ mentality,” Braglia said. “We discussed the concepts surrounding the issues.”
School officials declined comment, pending conclusion of the negotiations.
If the five-year agreement is reached before the June 30, 1998 deadline, it will be a marked improvement over the last talks, Braglia said.
Before agreeing to the present four-year contract, teachers went without one between June 30, 1994 and Jan. 12, 1995.
