Rockford teachers set to begin strike March 29
Staff Report
Teachers in Rockford Public School District 205 are set to go on strike for the first time since 1984 beginning Thursday, March 29.
The Rockford teachers’ union — the Rockford Education Association (REA) — voted 1,500-74 in favor of the strike March 26 after a little more than an hour of discussion at Rockford’s Coronado Performing Arts Center.
The vote comes after members of the REA and the district’s bargaining team failed to reach an agreement in 50 meetings over the past 11 months. Teachers have been without a contract since July 1.
Following four hours of failed negotiations March 25, REA President Karen Bieschke said: “This is outrageous. We have been bargaining for 11 months with over 60 negotiations sessions. With the education of over 28,000 students hanging in the balance — the REA was prepared to get this done today. We did our homework and came prepared. Why didn’t Superintendent Willis and his team do the same‘?”
Teachers at the March 26 meeting were given written instructions about picket lines and other information about the walkout.
Strike instructions call for teachers to picket their respective buildings, with picket lines expected at every District 205 school.
The teachers’ union has also purchased 30-second advertising spots on local television, which are to air during the strike.
Students will be out of school Wednesday, March 28, because of a School Improvement Planning day, planned under former Superintendent Dr. LaVonne M. Sheffield, with the strike to begin March 29.
Bieschke said a tentative agreement could stop the strike, although she said no bargaining sessions have been scheduled.
Dr. Robert Willis, interim superintendent of Rockford Public School District 205, sent teachers a letter March 26 regarding a possible strike. Click here to read the letter.
In response to the REA’s vote to strike, Rockford Public School District 205 issued the following press release March 26:
ROCKFORD PUBLIC SCHOOLS DISTRICT 205 CALLS REA STRIKE “DETRIMENTAL TO STUDENTS, PARENTS, OUR COMMUNITY AND THE DISTRICT”
District calls for REA to start negotiating realistically and put the kids first
Rockford School District 205 called today’s REA’s decision to conduct a strike and walk out on more than 27,000 Rockford students, “detrimental to students, parents, our community and the district.”
“Let me be clear — no one wins in a strike,” said Robert Willis, interim superintendent of the Rockford Public Schools.
Willis said the District has a comprehensive contingency plan in place, just as any prudent employer. The district shared information about its planning and responded to questions from parents at special information sessions the district held Wednesday, March 21, and Thursday, March 22.
Additional information will be made available on the district’s website: webs.rps205.com. Willis said the union walkout does not diminish the district’s confidence that it can reach a fair new contract.
“We have tremendous respect for our teachers, but we must balance their concerns with our primary mission, which is to address both the current and future instructional needs of our students. Our students must come first,” Willis said.
The district’s final offer seeks to make changes now for the district to be sustainable and make long-term investments for the future, he added.
Neither the REA nor the district can guarantee any days lost due to a strike will be made up by adding days at the end of the scheduled school year, Willis said.
The district will not be locking out teachers who want to work. Those teachers who work their regularly scheduled work hours will receive full pay and benefits. Those who choose to strike will not be paid and will be issued COBRA notices at the appropriate time and will be responsible for paying the full cost of health care.
Rockford Public Schools District 205 has not had a strike in nearly 30 years — since 1984.
The two parties have met 50 times over the past 11 months.
“The district has been reasonable in negotiations and has made significant change and compromises,” said Willis. “The district’s approach and position on the primary issues has remained constant.”
The district’s goal continues to be to reach a fair new agreement that secures a brighter future for Rockford Public Schools District 205 and benefits the students, teachers and the community.
For more about the status of negotiations, visit www.205teachernegotiations.com.
Posted March 27, 2012
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11 Comments
It is now 9:30 in the morning. Does anybody really think that this will be settled before Thursday?
WE THE PEOPLE were lied to last year and in the years past when the board and all who cares told us we had so little money that we had to fire teachers and staff, as well as close neighborhood schools to keep the district out of severe debit.
In the new year after the gutting of our schools and misplacement of our teachers and students, we find that we not only did not have a deficit of funds, but many millions of dollars to the plus side of the ledgers!
It is then that our teachers should have just walked out and quit, and not bothered to talk about a strike.
Because our teachers believed that the board would not treat them unfairly with the surprise of this new found surplus of wealth, the teachers did what they do all the time, and worked again without a contract in good faith that they would get back some of what they they gave up in the past because the board feigned a budget shortfall.
The thanks of the school board comes as an insult to all that is good! The board wants to make teachers work for less still! As the teachers continue to work on an old contract as they have many times in good faith, this school board slaps them as if they were just hired hands waiting to drive a snow plow as a mere subcontractor.
I support the teachers in everything they do! If the teachers strike, I will be on the line with them as I can! For sure, when I ask teachers to help my daughter a bit more they do so without haste, so why should I hesitate when they need my help?
We seem to be in a downward spiral of stupidity, and something needs to change fast!
We continually complain that our doctors charge too much, but we want them to do more for us, and bill some magical insurance company. We want the fire department to save our children when we fail to have good fire protection practices in our homes, and each year we want to pay them less too!
We are in an economy that seems to get thrilled when we undermine another union, but that gets further burdened because those undermined union workers then need to be on welfare like those who have no real education or purpose in life.
We need to pay before we can play, and that does not mean bring our union teachers down to the salary of the private school teachers. That is the goal!
We need to pay the teachers a living wage, and a benefit package due a professional as our teachers are!
Our teachers are well trained and dedicated. Our teachers continually upgrade their credentials and do more than the letter of the teacher contract.
If the strike comes, I will be looking at what the board sends in to teach our children, and we should note what these scab teachers are willing to be paid for their services.
As long as schools are open, My child will attend, but I will insist that the scab teacher does what the striking teachers was supposed to do!
I will be in the schools and on the line, and I will be looking for more of you to be with me as we set up the pins!
Here’s to teacher raises that they can be proud of and the removal of the current school board AGAIN!
The REA should not settle until the liar Cedric Lewis is shown the door. Why this blatant propogandist is still cashing checks at our expense is a complete mystery.
His lies to the board and the public are at the heart of the current inabilities to find common ground. He should have been driving LaVonne out of town – they could have had quite a few drinks together on the trip.
Well said, Daniel. Well said.
I agree with Daniel! We could use more people like him! I am in with him! Lets help our teachers and walk the pick lines with them. Perhaps that will get this settled quicker as well!
Thank you, Daniel! Teachers are so beaten down they can barely walk in the door anymore. They want a settlement and the district is holding that up yet spinning it the other way. What kind of world are we living in?
I think the teachers that strike should go find new jobs!!! My god, in this economy you should be thankful for a job! I pay the wages of the teachers with my tax money that I can barely afford but yet I havent had a raise in 7 years. I pay 100 of my family’s health insurance. You guys work 8 months a year and the average teacher makes 60,000??? Wow, all I can say is you teachers make me sick! Most overpaid profession out there for time spent working! The old phrase is “Those who can do, and those who cant teach”
Bryan, I am an 8 yr teacher with a Mater’s degree. I make considerably less then my HVAC employed husband who never finished college. His family benefits are better then mine and he carries the insurance. I don’t know where you get your facts but teachers are not raking in the big bucks. Perhaps you should start analyzing the administration and their salaries. And for everyone who says I have the summer off..NO, I am teaching summer school to pay for my continuing education courses I am required to take for my certification.
This is a district made strike. The district put out so much misleading information, it is sad. Teachers are professionals. Teacher pay in Rockford is way behind most other areas. So Rockford wake up. The only way to get out of the downward spiral this community is in is to start supporting education and not think that teachers should get minimum wage for a job that is very difficult.
WHAT ABOUT THE KIDS? THATS ALL I HAVE TO SAY?
The REA and District 205 have both given misleading information. The facts on pay and benefits are easy enough to find and then each person can make their own determination based on that.
Honestly, I feel the teachers are not in touch with the community they work in.