Teachers Strike in D 158

Bongo’s heart sank a few moments ago when he got “the call.”

Here is District 158's 4:00 A.M. press release about the strike.

THEY SAID NO TO A 17.8% SALARY INCREASE OVER THREE YEARS. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? 17.8% WASN'T GOOD ENOUGH?

“As long as the board continues to negotiate with us, we will be in school.”
---Julie Hunter, HEA Co-President

Well, Let's see, Julie. As of 6:30 Sunday night, the "non-negotiating BOE" had compromised with the HEA and signed off on the following things:

Supervision: The board agreed to go back to the status quo regarding supervision and bus duty coverage. Those doing bus duty will no longer lose pay. So the whole Jason Labar thing was settled.

Insurance: The District will increase its payment toward family insurance coverage over 10% in the first year with a more than 5.5% increase in the remaining years. So you got them to pay more toward insurance, which is what you said you wanted.

CPI: The Board moved toward fixed percentages in the salary schedule and away from "CPI + a %." The union also said this was important.

Salary Schedule: The Board agreed to go back to the previous contract salary schedule structure and to make the increases on the schedule more equitable for all HEA members. So that kinda throws the whole "some of our teachers aren't getting what others are getting" argument out the window.

Off Schedule Teachers: The board increased the salary increases for the District's most senior teachers, so the whole "I've worked here for 29 years and my raise is pathetic" issue is settled.

Planning Time Language: The board agreed to add language to the contract which formalized planning time for middle and high school teachers. Remember, Julie, you said that was important.

And who knows what other progress was made after the release was sent out.

“As long as the board continues to negotiate with us, we will be in school.”
---Julie Hunter, HEA Co-President

Bongo has said it before, but he’ll say it again. Strikes destroy communities. They pit parents against teachers and board members. Trust is lost and community spirit dies. But then again, most of the negotiators for the HEA don't live here or pay taxes here.

Shame on the HEA leaders for putting greed ahead of the children’s right to an education, and shame on the teachers for putting blind faith in a group that truly doesn’t deserve it.

An HEA henchman has already contacted Bongo and suggested that the information above, which was pulled directly from a D 158 press release yesterday, is inaccurate. But Bongo says this to the HEA: How is Bongo supposed to trust anything you say ever again? Bongo thinks you want the release pulled because you don't want people to see how hard the board has tried to meet your demands. For now, Bongo trusts Superintendent Burkey much more than he trusts the group that is now holding his pups' educations for ransom. Bongo hopes the BOE publishes this revised final offer. Then the proof will be in the pudding, and we'll know who is telling the truth and who is trying to hide it.

In light of everything the school board gave in to over the weekend, the fact that you will still take to the picket lines today says quite clearly that in the end, it really wasn't about making sure the board was still willing to negotiate. In the end it was about getting exactly what you want regardless of the impact on the budget, and more importantly, on the students.

Here is the Northwest Herald story about the strike.