District 304 to parents: "Your prompt attention to its content is appreciated."
Buses will roll, lunches will be served and students will take part in math, writing, reading, art and physical education workshops at Geneva schools should District 304 teachers go on strike. A School District press release issued at around 1 p.m. offers details on the activities it will offer students should a strike take place Friday or later. The Geneva Education Association on Oct. 26 filed its intent to strike. Picketing could begin as soon as Friday, Nov. 9. Teachers have been working at 2011-12 salary and benefit levels since the previous three-year contract expired in August. At Monday's special School Board meeting, officials voted unanimously to accept a new policy on picketing that allows the practice on sidewalks and streets …
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An eight-hour negotiating session doesn't come up with a tentative contract agreement, but both sides will meet again in hopes of an 11th-hour settlement prior to a possible Nov. 9 teachers strike.
For Genevans hoping and praying for a settlement prior to a Friday teachers-strike deadline, the initial news from Tuesday's negotiating session was mixed and a little sketchy. School District 304 issued a press release and sent an email via 304 Connects informing the community that the Board of Education and the Geneva Education Association continued negotiations Tuesday evening with the help of a federal mediator. "Proposals were exchanged, and both parties agreed to meet again on Thursday, Nov. 8," the release said. As of 10:50 a.m. Tuesday, the GEA had not issued a press release regarding the issue or posted one on its website, gea4students.com. Following the Oct. 26 negotiations session, the School Board and GEA released details and …
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2:38 pm on Friday, November 9, 2012
Gosh, Edward, I'm SO sorry, I wasn't assuming anything, I was inferring....but hey, if that's how you choose to see it, then we'll just have to agree to disagree, and I will reluctantly acknowledge you may be half right. more ›
School Board president calls the tactic “particularly troubling." Geneva Education Association president calls the board's account of the negotiations "disturbing." Negotiations continue Nov. 6.
Geneva School Board President Mark Grosso said in a District 304 press release Tuesday that the Geneva teachers union was filing for a strike five hours before talks ended Friday. The Geneva Education Association countered with its own press release Tuesday evening, posted on the gea4students website, calling the School Board's accusations "disturbing" and saying it had to file at that time to make a 4:30 p.m. deadline with the Kane County Regional Office of Education and the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board. Both sides said they made dramatic movement from their posted final offers and acknowledged that a settlement appeared to be in reach during the 12-hour Friday bargaining session. “What is particularly troubling is that, …
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5:45 pm on Sunday, November 4, 2012
GEA planned strike to get changes made to contract before the new ammendment to the Illinois Constitution gets voted in, requiring a 3/5 vote to approve any changes to public employee retirement plans. VOTE YEST for the Ammendment! Any contract with striking teachers should NOT be grandfathered if Ammendment passes.There is no excuse for deceiving tax payers with a coerced falsification of … more ›
Document says union leaders "postponed negotiations for the entire month of May and much of June," but GEA says many statements unclear or incorrect.
In the Geneva School Board's "final offer" submitted on Oct. 19 and posted Oct. 26, Board President Mark Grosso says in a cover letter to GEA President Carol Young the union failed to live up to a signed confidentiality agreement and dragged its heels for three months of the negoiating process. The Geneva Education Association countered on its website that the GEA adhered to the confidentiality agreement until the start of mediation, as required, and that there were specific reasons for the delays, including that union negotiators were uncomfortable with the district's preferred format. The GEA says many of the statements made in the board's final offer letter require clarification or outright correction. The following is the full text of …
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7:29 am on Wednesday, October 31, 2012
John S There are a lot of things that are unfair, that alone can not be the basis for sound budgeting. The reality is that teachers are a very large part of the public sector (70% of the tax bill I believe) and the public sector can not be completely divorced from what's going on in the private sector. If you don't believe me look across the pond to Greece for an extreme example. If you think … more ›
After a day-long negotiating session, the School Board and GEA get closer to resolution but salaries remain the sticking point.
Geneva School Board President Mark Grosso delivered the sad news in a brief telephone conversation around 10:30 p.m. Friday, after a long day of negotiations with the Geneva Education Association. "Despite progress on several of the issues, the GEA has given notice of its intent to strike," Grosso said. The soonest date that a strike could take place is Nov. 9. The next mediation session has tentatively been set for Tuesday, Nov. 6. Grosso said he felt the negotiations made tremendous progress and both sides were close to agreement on many of the major points outlined in the final offers posted by the School Board and the GEA—with one important exception. "Salary is the issue, I can tell you that," Grosso said. The board and the union have…
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10:56 am on Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Julie: I had a conversation and traded emails with one of the male teachers at Williamsburg Elementary, and he says with certainty and conviction that none of those gentlemen are posting as "btown95." Hope that helps and ends the speculation. more ›
A six-hour meeting on Tuesday leads to another meeting date on Friday.
A Wedneday-morning press release from School District 304 says the Geneva School Board and Geneva Education Association had a "constructive" six-hour negotiation session Tuesday night and plan to meet again Friday. During contract talks when both sides are operating under a confidentiality agreement, you sometimes have to look at the adjectives. School Board President Mark Grosso, via the press release, used at least three that would have accompanied the "sun" icon in the old Chicago Sun-Times weather word of the day. "We are hopeful that both parties can maintain a positive approach in the effort to reach an agreement," he said. "The board is very appreciative of the overwhelming community support it has received in this matter and is …
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11:36 pm on Thursday, October 25, 2012
Stand firm school board. Taxpayers deserve a break. Teachers are living in a fantasy land, a bubble of self righteous, self serving behavior. Send a strong message, knock them back into reality. Tell those who won't listen to move on. Tell those greedy old teachers who want 18% boosts just before retirement that they are money grubbing, corrupt and utterly clueless. Tell those who want me to pay … more ›
The Geneva Board of Education meets in executive session to hash out its final offer to the Geneva Education Association. Parents, GEA members and tax watchdogs make brief statements during open session.
Geneva tax watchdogs, parents and members of the Geneva Education Association made a final plea during a short public comments period before the School Board adjourned to executive session Wednesday to discuss its "last best offer" to the teachers union. School Board President Mark Grosso said previously that the board and the GEA have until Friday, Oct. 19, to submit their last best offers to the Illinois Education Labor Relations Board. Grosso said Wednesday that School District 304 would post a timeline at www.geneva304.org, hopefully sometime Thursday, that expalins "what happens when, and where we go from here." During the public comments portion of the meeting, which Grosso limited to a little more than 20 minutes, speakers …
2:41 pm on Saturday, October 20, 2012
Lisa, The only teachers who have 100% of their premiums covered by the district are individuals who choose the "HMO single coverage". Teachers who want family coverage must pay a monthly premium that varies from between $300-$700 a month depending on whether they want an HMO or PPO that requires "out of pocket" expenses by the employee. Of course the district does not pay any health insurance … more ›
The signs of Geneva Education Association solidarity continue, with teachers meeting en masse before school Thursday to walk in wearing green United We Teach shirts.
While suburban school districts such as Evergreen Park continue to deal with walkouts, Geneva teachers union members staged a "walk in" Thursday at the high school and middle schools. On Thursday morning (Oct. 11, 2012), teachers wearing green "United We Teach" T-shirts gathered in the parking lots outside Geneva High School and the shared campus of Geneva Middle School North and Geneva Middle School South, then walked inside the building en masse. Teachers union members have been wearing the green shirts and buttons that have come to symbolize the union's efforts to school primarily on Thursdays. Teachers have been working without a contract since Aug. 15, being paid and receiving benefits under the same rates and conditions as the …
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3:58 pm on Friday, November 9, 2012
Hey, how about the janitor (sorry, I mean custodial engineer) that makes $106 a year? it's all on geneva304.org - it's entitlement gone wild (joe francis not included) more ›
The Kane County Chronicle is reporting that representatives of the Geneva Education Association will be picketing before the 7 p.m. School Board meeting at the Coultrap facility.
The Kane County Chronicle reported at about 1:21 p.m. today (Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012) that the Geneva Education Association is planning to picket prior to the 7 p.m. School District 304 board meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Coultrap facility. The Chronicle story says GEA President Carol Young confirmed that the "informational picket" would take place from about 6:45 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. outside the building at 1113 Peyton St. from the Lincoln Avenue entrance to West State Street and back. Teachers and parents who support the teachers union have spoken at recent School Board meetings, and union representatives wearing green "United We Teach" T-shirts have packed the room at School Board meetings on Aug. 27, Sept. 10 and Sept. 24. A postcard…
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7:13 am on Saturday, October 13, 2012
Matt, The problem is simple economics. The demand for education is very inelastic. The supply of teachers is very elastic in this area. The union creates artificial inelasticity of supply by protecting the teachers with seniority and "no fire" clauses. This creates an artificially high price point for teachers salaries (the intersection of supply and demand). When you compound this fact with a … more ›
Chuck
10:04 pm on Saturday, November 10, 2012
This is the problem with America. Unions are out dated only causing problems for people already doing well. Unions were created for times when workers were uneducated and uninformed. Now, unions only cost tax payers, especially in Illinois, more money. Love our teachers in Geneva, but let them strike and replace them. Send a message to all unions. more ›