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Geneva Newsmakers Countdown 2012—No. 2: Carol Young

Editor's note: This is the ninth of a 10-part countdown of articles looking back at the Geneva newsmakers of 2012. The No. 1 newsmaker will be Geneva Patch's 2012 "Person of the Year."

By Rick Nagel
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January 1, 2013

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Editor's note: This is the ninth of a 10-part countdown of articles looking back at the Geneva newsmakers of 2012. The No. 1 newsmaker will be Geneva Patch's 2012 "Person of the Year."

Our No. 2 Geneva newsmaker of 2012 might come as a little surprise because she was someone who worked behind the scenes more often than she did in the spotlight, but to say Carol Young wasn't part of the biggest news story of the year would be to ignore her key role and leadership.

Geneva Patch is more than 2 years old now, and it's safe to say that no story captured the attention of the community more than the 2012 teacher-contract negotiations.

Young, a kindergarten teacher at Harrison Street School, is the president of the Geneva Education Association, the union that pushed negotiations to the limit but ultimately came to an 11th-hour agreement that allowed school to continue without a teachers strike.

If you're looking for the best last-hour deal of 2012, "Fiscal Cliff" folks would have to take second fiddle to the GEA/School Board negotiations.

In the process of the contract negotiations, it came to be known that Young is married to Steve Young, a former teacher and co-chair of the Illinois Education Association's Joint Task Force on Retirement Security. Many observers suggested the GEA's negotiations tactics and statements were scripted by the IEA, and the similarities of statements made by other local unions during contract and strike talks in other Illinois districts supports that notion.

Still, there is no doubt the Geneva union had its own set of issues and direction.

Young and the GEA brought the usually closed negotiations talks into the public arena. Hundreds of teachers wore green shirts to Geneva School Board meetings from August through October and staged walk-ins on Thursdays at Geneva schools. The GEA created its own website, gea4students.com, and distributed "I (heart) Geneva Teachers" signs in yards around town, picketed before School Board meetings and issued press releases that included a Nov. 1 open letter to the public.

The GEA sued the School District for unfair labor practices and declined to withdraw the complaint after the two sides reached an agreement on a new three-year contract.

The GEA was successful at reaching many of its goals, including enhanced retirement perks for the next three years, the preservation of step and lane increases and concessions on involuntary work transfer, extending the teacher work day, security cameras and special-education teacher workload. There was only a marginal increase in starting salaries for teachers, moving from $39,651 in the first year to $39,730 in the last year of the new contract.

In return, it agreed to a one-year salary freeze and to take part in a task force that will look at longterm teacher compensation models, including merit-based pay and a possible end to retirement salary spiking.

Young didn't do a lot of public speaking, but her quiet and steady leadership set the tone for school contract negotiations and ultimately resulted in a deal that prevented a teachers strike, avoided a work stoppage and kept Geneva students in school.

The Series

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KL

1:11 pm on Tuesday, January 1, 2013

oh brother

Jen Marsh

1:36 pm on Tuesday, January 1, 2013

oh brother is right...though, my internal voice wasn't nearly as subtle!

Robert Jr.

2:31 pm on Tuesday, January 1, 2013

As the figurehead for the GEA, she did a remarkable job in providing retiring teachers with 6% increases in pay and added pension benefits while the economy struggled and while tax payers saw average pay increases of less than 2%. She may be person of the year for her remarkable negotiating skills. Her skills alone gave the average retiring teacher an added $200,000 in retirement. She should be person of the year!