Teachers Contract To Be Approved At Palatine School Board Meeting

PALATINE, IL — The Palatine-Schaumburg school district is set to vote Thursday on a teachers contract that was hammered out last month in a last-minute deal that averted a strike, despite hints by the union that said some details remained unresolved.

The contract's approval remains on the school board's agenda at Thursday night's meeting.

However, union president John Braglia told the Daily Herald that some smaller details still needed to be worked out.

"We're in agreement on all the big stuff, but it's all or nothing," Braglia, who is president of Northwest Suburban Teachers Union Local 1211 told the Herald. "I want it done right, cleanly, without the public having to go through this any further."

Superintendent Dan Cates credited the compromises the two sides made to avert a strike at the end of last semester.

"Keys to the compromises included delaying some of the new terms until the later years of the contract, holding some stipend amounts at their present levels, and consolidating some of the smaller departments," he said in a statement.

Details of the contract include:

• base salary increases of two percent for the first two years, with additional increases in years three and four. The median teacher salary will now be $111,337.
• teachers will pay higher premiums for health insurance
• degree-seeking teachers will pay more out of pocket for graduate-level courses

The district also agreed to hire more counselors, the Daily Herald reported.

Full contract details will be available at the meeting at 7:30 p.m., Thurs., Jan., 17 7 at the G.A. McElroy Administration Center, 1750 South Roselle Road in Palatine.

Photo via Patch archives.