Union officials and administrators from a McHenry County school district failed again Monday to settle on a new contract for teachers and canceled classes for a third day Tuesday for 1,600 pupils.
Negotiators for both sides met at Nippersink Middle School at 6 p.m. and called off talks about three hours later. They will try again Tuesday to hammer out a deal to end the walkout.
Dan Oest, superintendent of Nippersink School District 2, said before the meeting that public comment overwhelmingly supports the school board. The community, he said, wants “the board of education to continue taking a strong stance.”
Oest declined to comment after talks ended Monday.
Denise Gossell, president of the Richmond Spring Grove Education Association, told picketing teachers earlier in the day that she hoped for a resolution but warned the strike over pension contributions could continue through Tuesday.
“It’s the same issue, but we’re all trying to be creative,” she said after the talks ended.
District and union officials had to walk through a gantlet of parents and teachers chanting, “Get it done,” to get inside the middle school.
The walkout, which started Friday, affects about 140 teachers and staff.
The school board has offered 3.5 percent salary raises in each of the next three years. At issue is the board’s demand that teachers pay a portion of any increase in pension contributions. Starting salary for teachers in the district is $33,000.
The teachers union has offered to have employees contribute 0.5 percent of their salary for health-care benefits but not until the fourth year of a contract.
The board’s last offer included having the employees contribute 0.5 percent in the second year of a contract and 1 percent in the third year.
The district operates three schools: two elementary and one middle school. Most pupils are from Richmond and Spring Grove.
With schools closed, Henry Konkel of Spring Grove had to take his 11-year-old son to work with him Monday.
“He said, ‘Dad, I miss going to school,’ and I said, ‘I had a feeling you might be out all week,'” Konkel said. “It’s time the teachers realize they can’t keep tapping the taxpayers.”
Amy Burghardt has two children affected by the strike.
She said that if parents want high-quality teachers to continue to come to the district, they should pay them what they are worth.
“Teachers keep losing ground as far as their benefits and salaries,” said Burghardt, who works as a teacher’s aide for the district but is not a union member.
“It isn’t fair that teachers have to keep making concessions year after year.
“They are a valuable asset.”
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cstarks@tribune.com
