Still No Teachers Contract Online

School Board President Mark Grosso said a few weeks ago that he expected the new three-year teachers contract to be published on the School District website by the end of the month of November, but as of Monday, Dec. 3, it's still in the works.

"Unfortunately, it is not yet ready to be posted, but our Human Resources Department is working very hard to complete it as soon as possible," School Distirct 304 Communications Coordinator Kelley Munch said in an e-mail Monday.

The Geneva Education Association ratified the agreement in a vote on Nov. 14, and the School Board ratified the agreement on Nov. 20. A strike was averted during an 11th-hour negotiation session in the wee hours of Monday, Nov. 12.

The summary of the new three-year contract is on the School District 304 website and is prominently displayed on School District 304's newly redesigned homepage.

The previous three-year agreement is a 56-page document that goes into greater detail and is still published on the website. That contract is for the 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12 school years.

The new contract differs from the previous one in several ways. It calls for a salary freeze for 2012-13, then step increases of 2.65 percent and 2.85 percent in the following two years. It offers retirement incentives that include salary increases of 6 percent, 3 percent and 2.48 percent for teachers who announce retirement prior to Jan. 15, 2013, and intend to retire at the end of 2014-15.

It also has different parameters for education-related salary advancement, sometimes called "lane" increases, and calls for the establishment of a Salary Schedule Study Group, made up of board members, administrators and teachers.

Some of the additional issues, which were expected to be fleshed out in the final document include:

• The exact salary-schedule grid.
• Tuition reimbursement will be phased out over three years.
• Premiums for health insurance will be reduced from 100 percent to 95 percent for the final two years of the contract.
• The release time for the GEA president will be reduced to .5 full-time equivalent.
• Teacher planning time has been clarified.
• Teachers will have more input on filling committee vacancies, building leadership teams and professional development.
• A teacher-administration communication team will be established.
• Non-union members will not be forced to pay a "fair share" of union dues.
• Language has been changed regarding involuntary transfer.
• There will be no change in the teacher work day.
• Language has been added regarding security cameras in the workplace, such that cameras are not used to observe or evaluate performance.
• The number of release days for special education teachers will be increased.

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