The 7,100 students in Woodland School District 50 in Lake County won’t be back in class until at least next week after federally mediated contract talks broke down with no new meetings scheduled, officials said Wednesday.
“I can’t see a way the strike could be resolved by this weekend,” said Mike McGue, chief negotiator for Local 504 of the Lake County Federation of Teachers, which represents more than 850 striking teachers and support staff.
Teachers, school officials and parents said Wednesday they were frustrated by the impasse, which will force classes to be canceled for a seventh day Thursday.
“There’s a lot of support for the teachers, but that will end. It’s gone on too long,” said Donna Dalton, a Gurnee resident who has three children in the district. “I think the fact that they’re not talking more often is more frustrating to everyone. It should be an everyday thing.”
The negotiating session Tuesday in the Hinsdale office of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service was the first time the two sides had sat down together since the strike began Sept. 24.
Maureen Egan, the federal mediator, called an end to the talks at 10:15 p.m. Tuesday after five hours with almost no progress.
Salary has been the main stumbling block. Before the talks ended Tuesday, the school board sweetened its salary proposal. The board proposed a 16 percent increase over three years, up from its earlier offer of 15.5 percent.
Teachers did not budge from their proposal for a 29.5 percent increase over three years.
“We told the board before we started that we would not make a counteroffer unless they made a significant increase in their offer,” McGue said. “And we don’t consider half a percent significant.”
Teachers were back on the picket line Wednesday outside administration offices on Hunt Club Road in Gurnee.
The school board’s attorney, Mike Loizzi, said board members “are frustrated and disappointed, because they feel they’re doing what needs to be done to be flexible.”
Loizzi said the teachers’ proposal is unrealistic.
“The school district can’t afford what they’re proposing, not without jeopardizing the financial integrity of the district,” he said. “They just seem to be dug in on their heels on an arbitrary number. To start in the sky and stay there and not move after five mediation sessions is ridiculous.”
Many parents say they side with the teachers’ goal of increasing their pay, particularly at the beginning of the salary schedule, where the $27,008 starting wage is below state and county averages.
“I think it’s going to take a long time before they reach” a settlement, said Yesenia Cerda, a Gurnee resident with two children in the district. “But you know what? I support the teachers. They’re professionals and they need to be paid as professionals.”
