Trading accusations that each side is negotiating in bad faith, teachers and administrators in Park Ridge-Niles School District 64 remained far apart in a 4-day-old strike after talks stopped early Thursday.
Union officials said they filed an unfair labor practice complaint against Board of Education President Dean Krone. They claim Krone circumvented the collective bargaining process by putting letters in school mailboxes lobbying teachers not to strike.
Krone, who said a district labor lawyer reviewed the letter before it was distributed to teachers, asserted that he did not break any rules. He said the information in the letter already had been presented to the union.
Union officials also charged that district officials were deceptive in presenting to the public how much of a raise teachers have demanded. They said the district included the automatic raises teachers get with experience and graduate school credits.
District officials have offered a 3.5 percent annual increase but said teachers want an annual increase averaging 5.65 percent. Union officials said the district’s offer is less than a 1.5 percent increase annually after discounting the automatic raises.
“This is semantics,” Krone said. “We are attempting to communicate to the public how much more money the union is asking for.”
Debbie Brandt, vice president of the Park Ridge Education Association and an art teacher in the district, said many teachers are particularly bitter now because the union and the district historically have had a good relationship.
The union last went on strike in 1979, and that impasse lasted only two days.
“This board has changed its focus from education to dollars,” said Brandt, who added that she expects the two sides would negotiate this weekend.
Many teachers walking the picket line Thursday said they took exception to board officials claiming that the district is in a difficult financial situation. Teachers said the district has an $8.5 million surplus that can be used to pay for raises.
“The quality of these schools and the integrity of the district is at stake,” said Mark Stefanik, one of the teachers negotiating the contract. “This is gutting the teachers. The board has created this image of us that is an oxymoron: greedy teachers.”
Krone said the district had more than $8 million in reserve, but that the district’s policy is to keep 20 percent of its $40 million annual spending budget on hand for bills and emergencies. Three of the last four years, the district has had to cut its operating budget, and it expects to have to do so again.
Meanwhile, many parents of the 4,400 children in the district said the strike already has taken a toll on them as they try to juggle jobs and child care.
Jeanine Jensen, 41, said she is running ragged from baby-sitting her 7-year-old son while managing her communications business out of her home. A single mom, Jensen said she cannot afford to pay for day care.
“It’s hard to explain why `Barney’ is blaring in the background when you’re on a business call,” said Jensen, whose son, Alex, is in 1st grade at Carpenter School in Park Ridge.
Inside the Park Ridge Park District’s recreation center, while children swam and played basketball, Colleen Forsythe talked with other mothers about how they plan to entertain their children in the coming days.
Forsythe, 41, said she already had spent $200 this week taking her two sons on day trips to the Chicago Historical Society, lunch at the Walnut Room and a local arcade.
“I hope this strike ends soon,” Forsythe said. “It is getting expensive.”
