Did You Hear About The Other Chicago Area Teachers Strike?

[Kathianne]

Oh yes, this state of never ending money fountains! Well unlike Chicago, Lake Forest can afford whatever deal is struck. Third richest zip code in US. The teachers went out on Tuesday, the board has said that school will resume on Monday, with those teachers or others:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/suburbs/lake_forest/ct-met-lake-forest-teachers-strike-20120913,0,2132334.story


Two sides to meet today in Lake Forest teachers strike In affluent district, it's about the money; some parents counterprotest
...Teachers walked out Wednesday after failing to reach an agreement over salaries and benefits during talks that ended just before midnight Tuesday. The strike affects about 1,700 students and about 150 teachers and staff members.

The board has offered pay increases of 2.6 percent in fiscal year 2013, 3.4 percent in 2014 and 3.4 percent in 2015, according to the district. It has also asked teachers to start paying for a percentage of their insurance coverage.

The union maintains that since teacher pay was frozen last year in a one-year contract, that should be taken into consideration in the new pact. The union proposed raises equal to 5.6 percent in 2013, 6.5 percent in 2014 and 5.6 percent in 2015, according to district figures.

The average teacher in the district makes $106,500, compared with a statewide average of about $65,000, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.

Teachers also oppose a two-tiered salary structure proposed by the board. New teachers would make less money over time than teachers under the current structure, officials said.
...


Trust me, they are NOT worried about standardized test scores.

[gabosaurus]

I personally don't believe teachers should be allowed to strike. I believe such disputes should be subject to binding mediation.
Kathianne, as a teacher, I would be interested to hear your opinion on this.

[aboutime]

I personally don't believe teachers should be allowed to strike. I believe such disputes should be subject to binding mediation.
Kathianne, as a teacher, I would be interested to hear your opinion on this.


gabby. The correct term in ARBITRATION, not mediation. Thought those words below your name meant something Honest?

[gabosaurus]

Two different processes.
Sorry dude. Come back when you know what you are talking about.

[Kathianne]

I personally don't believe teachers should be allowed to strike. I believe such disputes should be subject to binding mediation.
Kathianne, as a teacher, I would be interested to hear your opinion on this.

I don't think teachers should strike either. Now to be fair, I don't like 'unions,' particularly the NEA. I don't think they exist for the benefit of the students or even for the teachers in the main. They are politically and administratively driven.

With the above said, I do think teachers need protection against being removed from position for arbitrary reasons by administration, other teachers that are threatened for one reason or another, and parents that are also able to 'gather a crowd' to ask for removal. That's what 'tenure' was supposed to prevent, but it's been abused as a way to protect ineffectual or worse yet, abusive teachers.

Those outside of education milieu would find it difficult to understand how the environment itself can lead to the most caring and innovative teachers being zeroed in on by those that don't want to work as hard, don't want to raise the bar for their students or themselves, or don't want kids to have to work 'hard' to earn self-esteem and confidence in themselves.

Believe me, I'm well aware of how tenure has been abused, I would surely love to hear of a school district's teaching staff coming up with rules on how the system should work. I've no doubt that many teachers would agree.

[gabosaurus]

Totally agree with you. Thanks for your opinion.