There is no winning or losing here. Both sides have to put their personal feelings and anger aside and get a deal done. Anything short of that means they are in this to win and our kids lose.

Saying either side is spouting misinformation, half truths and downright lies is a pretty serious charge.

What exactly are the lies coming from the teachers?

It's easy to pontificate when you don't have to back up your accusations with any facts.

Our entire community is harmed by this strike.

replacements?...Let's start w/you...Sure you'd be able to handle their job...go get your bachelor's, then your Master's, myriad of workshops and other training...gimme a break :(

Someone as stunningly uneducated as you are should not be offering advice on how to improve schools.

Paying teachers according to how well their students perform on standardized tests is a terrible idea:
1) A students ability to learn and perform well on a test is impacted by their homelife and many other areas out of the teacher's control

2) The pay incentives will force teachers to only teach to a test. Do you want your kids to learn or do you want your kids to learn how to take a test?

Merit pay will turn education into a giant game to mess around with numbers and children will not learn anything.

Teachers understand this. They don't oppose merit pay because they are afraid they will get paid less. Teachers oppose merit pay because it will turn education into a hollow exercise.

Stan - I do believe in merit pay, but I do not think test score improvement should be the sole determinant. It should be taken into consideration alongside other measures, such as peer, student and parent evaluations. Another problem with tying merit pay to test scores is that it will encourage teachers to cheat.

Merit pay works because it encourages employees to strive for excellence. Few will achieve excellence, because it is by definition a rare quality, but it is the endeavor that is most important. The absence of merit pay encourages mediocrity: if a person's paycheck remains unchanged no matter how hard or how little the person works, or how effective or ineffective the person is as a teacher, the person has zero motivation to improve.

In another comment you wrote: "Would you want your son's teachers to focus only on teaching him how to take a test rather than how to actually learn and think?" It's a good question. Unfortunately, it has nothing to do with merit pay. More unfortunately, there is already an astonishing dearth of attention to teaching students how to learn and think - even without the bonus for good test scores. Worksheets, multiple choice questions, word search puzzles and the like are far easier to grade than original compositions, but they teach next to nothing about how to learn and think.

Your belief in merit only works if all people value money above and beyond everything else. Life is not as simple as an economic model, and one can be perfectly rational without favoring money.

I'm tired of living in a world where everyone around me behaves like they're acting out poorly written Ayn Rand fan fiction.

Stan wrote: "Your belief in merit only works if all people value money above and beyond everything else. Life is not as simple as an economic model, and one can be perfectly rational without favoring money."

Tell that to the union members, who continue to rely on stirring up emotion rather than rationally negotiating compromise, and then tell them to accept the fair and reasonable offer currently on the table!

You fundamentally do not understand what I am talking about re: rationality.

How can a school board with a hair dresser, among other incompetents, possibly know what kind of an offer to make? They are being bullies while sitting on top of $16million. It's a power trip for them. The public likes to play along because it's fun to kick teachers and it makes them feel like they are productive while the evil, greedy teachers are just moochers and takers.

Your son would also lose out if the school district is mismanaged and does not properly value and support its teachers and staff.

Would you want your son to go to a bad school with bad teachers? Would you want your sons teachers to focus only on teaching him how to take a test rather than how to actually learn and think?

The strike is inconvenient in the short term, but your son will lose out much more in the long term if a school board filled with hair stylists tells teachers how to do their jobs

Couldn't agree with you more! The board took the old contract and practically shredded it to pieces. The elementary teachers make alot less money than the high school teachers, the salary schedules are on the web to view. Are elementary teachers expected to have an inferior lifestyle for some reason?
And looking at that health insurance benefit (which the news said was the biggest problem) some of it doesn't even make sense. The board will give employees a choice between the current PPO or a HSA, but will pay more benefit toward the HSA than the PPO. What sense does that make???
The board needs to come up with something that is FAIR!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quit your whining! You sound like one of my little boys!!

Try earplugs

Lol! You gotta pay the taxes too! Bwahahaha! Sucka!!!

Sham on you Stan- she has volunteered and puts in way too much time for you to take a cheap shot like that. I have not met too many greedy volunteers!

I didn't say Dawn Doyle McNamara was greedy.

I said the parents criticizing teachers say teachers are lazy and greedy. If the teachers are such terrible people, why don't these parents send their kids somewhere else?

The EP school board does not have the professional experience it takes to run a school district. That's why we are in this mess. The school board is not competent.

Stan, did you once get a really bad haircut or something? Please post a picture so we can see the source of all this vitriol --and have a laugh.

Thank you Stan for saying it so eloquently! I have always wondered why just "anyone" can run for school board! (it seems that it has turned into a popularity contest) I would also think they would need to have some kind of knowledge of school workings. Dawn can come and do our hair anytime, if she happens to even step into one of our buildings to SEE what we do all day.... that'd be a real shocker! NOT ONE OF THE BOARD MEMBERS EVER COME TO SEE WHAT WE DO ALLLLLLL DAY, EVERY DAY!

Stan What is your hatred for the Board? More so, for Dawn McNamara? Do you personally know Dawn? Did you know that she previously owned TWO separate hair salons, right in the SW Side of the Chicagoland area, employing several people right from our area? Her previous occupation - she was a Certified Chef, owning her own catering business? She does & knows more than a basic cut & color. But, if you knew Dawn, you would know these things. Dawn has children that are directly affected by this strike. Dawns' husband is a Union man, working for 597 for the last 25+ years. But again, if you knew Dawn, you would know these things. Dawn is one of the strongest, fairest, kindest people I know. But Dawn will not kowtow to bullies.
How do I know that, you ask? Well Stan, I'm her sister, her older sister.
Did you know that October is National Anti-Bullying month? You know what you are Stan? You're a bully-one that hides behind the facade of email, spewing your venom from the safety of your home. Did you run for the board? Did you ever try to make a difference? What is your story?
I don't have the answers to any of this but I certainly will not accuse you of NOT doing these things.
Put out your full name. Tell me where you want to meet, for a friendly discussion on the virtues and values of my sister. I'm very interested in hearing what your virtues & values. Don't hide behind the screen of a blog on a neighborhood newspaper.
I await your response. Kelly Doyle

ParaPro-gal,
I am in the schools, please communicate with your co-workers at Southeast school, a place I'm in frequently.

In response to Concerned, I have emailed Kathy Rohan with support twice. I heard back from her very promptly last week. My second message was today and it was rather mixed. While I still support the Board's financial perspective and feel they made a fair offer to the Union, I am unhappy with the tone of the neogtiation and believe that the Board has failed miserably at managing the communication aspect of the process.

For all concerned, the counter offers discussed last night are presented on the following link on the D124 page. Both sides made some concessions. However, I am concerned about the potential reduction in the school year if school days lost to strike are not made up.

http://www.d124.org/boardagenda/2012/Neogtiation%20Updates.pdf

R. Gibbons, I had the same thoughts. However, it also doesn't make sense that this is the issue that caused the Union to walk out of the negotiations last night. If it's impossible or unlikely to happen, why strike over it. Additionally, if the Union found the potenial reduction in days detrimental to the children, why would they take a course of action (striking) that would possibly bring about the circumstances that they found so appalling? It just doesn't make sense to me.

The legal minimum for an Illinois public school year is 176 days of “pupil attendance.” If a school doesn’t meet that minimum, they lose 1/176th (.56818%) of their state funding for each day they fall short.

The Illinois School Code says that “each school board shall annually prepare a calendar for the school term . . . providing a minimum term of at least 185 days to insure 176 days of actual pupil attendance.”

I would reframe your opening question to ask if it is a negotiation or a personal vendetta against the board? I reviewed the final offers made by both sides that are available on the website. Since August 30th the union had not changed its offer. So, last night was the first counter offer provided by the union. It is clear the union does not want to negotiate, as their final offer is basically the same as their offer on August 30th. In contrast, the board has increased its offer to the teachers several times since August 30th in an effort to resolve this negotiation. A negotiation, by definition, requires both parties to make uncomfortable movements towards the center. At this point it appears to me that the teachers feelings are hurt. Repairing relationships requires more than a contract can provide. After this is settled it will take years to heal the damage this has done to the teachers and community.

I wouldn't worry about the students being hurt by missing a few days, Cheryl. It can be avoided easily if days like, oh, St. Baldrick's Day, fundraising assemblies, movie marathons, etc. are replaced with days of actual teaching. The students won't miss out on any real education if time is used productively.

Bravo Cheryl! Very well said!! <3

No meetings have been set for negotiations. To say that the school board will not meet until Friday is incorrect. They may not even meet on that day. Maybe next week if it suits them. They are not in a hurry to finalize a fair contract. That is why there was no meeting today, nothing scheduled Wednesday, nothing Thursday, AND nothing scheduled Friday.

Interesting how the union was able to get out in front of the cameras just in time for the news. They are the ones who walked away from the table because they were intimidated that seems odd. Why does the union have to use Dave Cumberford to craft the message? The Dist website states that the Board's offer is good until Friday.

Didn't say "intimidated". I said "a school board member was inappropriately threatening" that the school year would be shortened and days would not be made up. Refer to the Illinois School Code that I quoted.

The Mobiles have been used for over 10 years. Please check the history of the school and you will see that overcrowding has been an issue for a long time. As for the children "approving" of the mobiles, I really don't believe the students at an elementary level would feel appropriate if they complained about something like mobile classrooms. As for 6th graders not having to be in the actual school building and liking it, well,...it just goes unsaid.

Thanks Kevin!! I'm sure the teachers, Para-Pro's and Staff will consider you our hero for speaking the TRUTH!! <3

Thank you, Kevin. Well spoken!

Well, I'm glad to hear she is visiting at least 1 school. I still don't think she is qualified to negotiate a contract.