School's open in Dist. 211 today

The ball now lies in the school board's court.

Tonight's vote by the Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 board of education will determine if the 1,400 members of the teachers union walk out Friday for the first strike in the history of the state's largest high school district.

Union members smashed a volley at the board Wednesday night when they postponed today's planned strike so the board could examine their offer -- and only their offer -- at its scheduled 7:30 meeting tonight.

Teachers could still call a strike for Friday; union officials await the school board's vote.

Board President Robert LeFevre is glad to be in the position to affect the outcome.

"I feel fortunate to have the opportunity," he said.

In the meantime, the district's 13,000 students will go to class and its 2,100 employees will go to work.

A two-year deal is on the table, as the teachers union Wednesday night voted by a 2-to-1 margin in favor of its proposal at its meeting at Palatine High School, said union spokesman Dave Comerford. More than 1,000 union members filled the school cafeteria. Those in favor of the contract stood and those opposed sat down.

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Comerford said the board has to accept the offer "as is," without amendments.

A productive bargaining session Tuesday night came to a halt when the sides couldn't come to an agreement over base pay in the second year of the contract. Union officials previously only wanted to negotiate the 2007-08 salary, while district officials wanted a longer deal -- as long as three years.

If the board votes tonight to approve the contract, teachers would get base-raise increases of 3.25 percent for 2007-08 and 2.8 percent in 2008-09. Lump-sum payments are also included to further boost salary.

If the proposal is rejected, teachers are prepared to strike Friday.

"I feel no pressure whatsoever," LeFevre said, adding that he wasn't sure how his board would vote.

The district posted its own two-year proposal, which featured the same first-year salary increase as the union's offer. The second-year base salary was the only difference, featuring a 2.5 percent raise.

Union President John Braglia said the difference in the proposals is about $217,000. Comerford -- who works out of the Illinois Federation of Teachers office in Springfield -- said the board should easily approve the deal.

"If they have that little respect for us that they can't work this out, then there's much larger problems," he said.

Superintendent Roger Thornton has said since talks broke down in August that the district wanted to offer raises in line with the rate of inflation, which was 2.5 percent, and recently increased to 2.8 percent.

Braglia called Thornton Wednesday night to inform him of the union's vote.

"The board will review the proposal that the teachers took and forward the proposal to the federal mediator," Thornton responded.

He added the district was "very pleased" that there is no strike today.

Some teachers said the rift was not just about money but about respect, and they chided the school board.

Kathy Loh, a science teacher at Hoffman Estates High School, has taught in the district for 30 years. She stood up and voted in favor of the deal, and hopes the board acts fairly.

"It's an extremely fair proposal. We compromised quite a bit, and if they vote to turn it down, we will be on strike on Friday," she said. "I think it would behoove them not to turn it down because it's extremely fair and they need to keep the needs of kids in mind."

The union's voting process frustrated some teachers who didn't like the public sit/stand method of counting votes. Gary Anderson, an English teacher at Fremd High School, expected a ballot, but still said the process was sound. He said that some teachers voted yes, even though they had concerns, including the length of the deal.

"I think a lot of people held their nose and voted 'yes,'" he said. "I held my nose and voted to accept the agreement."

The district is in the last year of a three-year contract that expires in July. When that contract was agreed to in December 2005, there was no base-salary increase included for the 2006-07 school year for teachers, though step increases for teachers who qualify, that reward education level and experience, are included.

The two sides agreed in 2005 that they would later negotiate teacher raises when the district was on strong financial ground. Two years ago, the district asked voters for a tax-rate increase to save extracurricular activities, as its budget surplus had been depleted.

Braglia has said the teachers sacrificed when agreeing to that contract and now are entitled to more money. Thornton has said the monies from the referendum weren't earmarked to boost teacher salaries.

The district's Web site has been updated to reflect classes will be in session today. Officials urge parents to check www.d211.org for further updates. The district is comprised of Conant, Fremd, Hoffman Estates, Palatine and Schaumburg high schools.