Mahomet-Seymour strike continues; talks set for 1 p.m.
MAHOMET Mahomet-Seymour teachers resumed picketing at 7 a.m. Friday at Middletown Early Childhood Center and Sangamon Elementary School in Mahomet. Negotiations will continue at 1 p.m. Friday at Mahomet-Seymour High School.
Negotiations ended Thursday night when the board's negotiating team walked out around 9 p.m. This is the second time the board has been the first to leave the negotiating table.
Eric Potter, spokesman for the Mahomet-Seymour Education Association, said he was hoping to solve the issue Thursday night so the teachers could be in school teaching Friday.
He said whether the public agrees with the union or not, it should recognize that the union is putting an effort in reaching an agreement, no matter how long it takes or how late it is.
But Terry Greene, Mahomet-Seymour school board president, said he is not one for perceptions.
"That's not why we're here," he said. "We're here to represent the families and the taxpayers and most importantly the school district and its long-term financial health. It's very difficult to negotiate with a union leadership who has a view that this is all about money and power, and they want more of both. They've been quoted saying that. And, quite frankly, the demands they keep putting on the table keep reflecting that.
"In our view, they're tone-deaf in what's going on in this state, in what's going on in this community. Their union president said this morning that Mahomet-Seymour has not been touched by difficult economic times; things are fine here. They're not. Things are tough, and they're going to get tougher.
"Just because we have a fund balance that we've worked several years to build up, to believe it belongs to them, and then take it, and put programs and class sizes, and the financial health of the school district at risk two, three years down the road is unconscionable. This board won't support that."
"We asked the MSEA to make a serious and significant move and its proposal, and they chose not to do that," Greene also said. "The board did make a movement on salary. It wasn't enough. The proposal we got back even had some extra things on it. Before we can settle this contract dispute, the MSEA leadership needs to get serious about what it needs to do in trying to spend down the school district's resources."
The school board proposed a two-year contract, coming up to 3.5 percent for secretaries, nurses, transportation workers and custodians; teacher aides would get step plus 1 percent, which means a 3.1 percent increase in the average teacher salary schedule. In the second year, all support staff and teacher aides would get 4 percent increases in the average teacher salary schedule.
But they did not come up for certified teachers, which was a deal-breaker for teachers.
"Our teachers can't accept that," Joan Jordan, co-president of the Mahomet-Seymour Education Association, said. "I don't know what they have against certified teachers. Terry Greene is trying to make a point that the administration and the board is trying to run this district. There's no excuse for that."
Potter also said in a written release that the Mahomet-Seymour School District is due about $700,000 to $750,000 from the federal education jobs bill targeted to pay teachers and support professionals, according to a preliminary report from the Illinois State Board of Education.
"A fair contract is affordable with current revenues," he said in the release, "with no tax increase needed."
But Greene said the union's proposal from Wednesday night that has been changed just slightly would mean that in the first year alone the district would be paying more than $700,000 in deficit spending.
At least a couple of students are upset they won't be in school Friday.
Tabytha Lawless, 16, junior, of Mahomet said she sees the teachers' side of things but would like to go back to school.
"I think (the teachers) should probably get more money," she said. "But I don't think they should go on strike about it. I would rather be in school than running around picketing."
She said she is "kind of mad" about the situation, "because everybody else is starting school."
Lawless also does not want to see sporting events such as the first football game against Mount Zion canceled because of the strike, because she was looking forward to that.
Bri Wisehart, 15, sophomore, of Mahomet agreed.
"I think it's not really fair to all the students," she said.
Wisehart said she would like see the teachers and district peacefully work something out while the students continue to go to school.
"I (am) upset because we could still be going to school and the teachers could be working it out while we're at school. They could have meetings after school."
Eric,
I don't understand why the district's balance sheet is relevant. Salaries should be high enough to attract the kind of teachers we all want in M-S, but not necessarily the highest they can possibly be. It seems to me that the current pay table does that. After all, it was good enough to attract folks like you. Is there somewhere in the area you could go and make more?
As I asked Brett in another combox, why should the whole pay table increase in a time when the CPI is flat?
What am I missing?
I just received an email from two school board members. There is an OPEN meeting MONDAY 7pm at the high school library. The Board is urging people to attend. Please go if possible and express your views. They need our support and the teachers need to see what this is doing to the community. If you are unable to attend, please email the board and let them know how you feel.
mgiles@ms.k12.il.us
I think the board needs to see what this is doing to our community. I think this forum is a bad idea and could get VERY ugly! I have read teachers being called greedy and selfish and not caring about children. Really? All the teachers I know are the exact opposite.
I recall sitting through a board meeting just months ago about how they were going to cut staff and programs. I recall the community being VERY MUCH in support of our wonderful teachers. Now, people have turned on the people who care for and educate our children every day.
This has the chance to tear our community apart. It is heart-wrenching. The board is as responsible for this as are the teachers. We all need to e-mail the board and tell them to GET THIS DONE!
i agree the spokespeople for the MSEA are losing them credit. If you want respect you must show a certain respect. We voted for these boards members, probably for a reason. They all have strong business and economic backgrounds. If they think this is best for everyone, we should probably stick with it.
Maybe you voted for this board for a reason. But why did you move to Mahomet? Did it have anything to do with the school system? The last time I checked, our schools are overflowing. I have a feeling the reason for the increase in class size has nothing to do with the school board members, but rather the quality of the education the students get. And who is it that is teaching YOUR children? Oh, that's right, the TEACHERS!!! Put your money where your mouth is!
I believe that the administrators and school board members ARE in charge of running the district. From my understanding, they will be responsible for budget shortfalls, tax increases, etc., not Ms. Jordan and her union.
If our district had a million dollar deficit, would Ms. Jordan offer to give up her salary and the salaries of the other union members in order to correct the deficit. Of course not, and yet, she seems to feel entitled to the money the district has had the foresight to set aside.
3 years ago the district had a deficit. I don't remember how much, but the union badgered and threatened to strike, and they got 15% over three years. The community was angry at the state of finances, angry that they could give away so much with the district in a bad financial state. So when elections came around, the current board ran as a unit and they ran on fiscal responsibility, saying they would make sure the Mahomet schools did not go in the red again. They have done a good job, and we no longer have a deficit and can look at building a replacement for the Early Learning center which house early education, kindergarten and administration. 3 years ago, the teachers did not care that the district was in the red, they demanded their increase. Now we have a board who does not want to go back to those days, and is doing what they were elected to do. Teachers take the 2.1% and 3% increase you have been offered and get back to work. It is a good increase in these times.
An extra 1% will not put us in the red. The building is slated as an administrative center only. I'm not sure preschool classes will be there. There always is an "intent to strike" file in every contract negotiations, because the board refuses to talk until the deadline is passed. The board willingly gave the % increases in the last contract. There was no dispute at all. This time around there has been a lot of movement on the part of the union. The only thing the board has done is try to break the union by increasing its offer for support staff while keeping it low for teachers. These are dirty tactics.
An extra 1% will not put us in the red.
Will not put us in the red ... when? How can you make that claim about a continuing expense?
The building is slated as an administrative center only.
My understanding is that a use plan had to be presented to the Village zoning staff in order to proceed with zoning decisions and the sale of the property. I do not believe that anyone intends to build an administrative center in the next few years. The actual design and use will undoubtedly depend on the needs of the district down the road, when it land is actually developed.
The only thing the board has done is try to break the union by increasing its offer for support staff while keeping it low for teachers. These are dirty tactics.
I have seen picket signs and have read comments on this web site about the plight of the support staff being the biggest concern for the union. You can't have it both ways. You can't claim that it is a main concern then say that addressing it directly is a dirty tactic.
If we gave them a 20 percent increase would that help our kids more?
Truth is that teacher pay only affects our kids indirectly. As long as the pay is high enough to attract excellent teachers, the pay table is doing everything it can to help the kids.
I believe the quality of the current faculty shows that the current pay table is attracting highly qualified teachers. Paying them more won't improve their abilities.
I agree. Those making less were put out there as the reason for needing more money for benefits. Though we were never given a # of people that would actually see their pay go down. Then they got the $25 per person, per month and Joan decided that the salaries had to go up too.
Is there somewhere our teachers could go to make more money?
Fisher's starting salary is $3,000 higher than Mahomets. Our top scale is much higher though.
Gibson City-Melvin Sibley High School is higher across the board.
Iriquois West pays its teachers a bit more at the start of the scale.
Villa Grove pays its beginning teachers $7,000 more a year.
Effingham pays its teachers more at the top of the scale.
Charleston more at the bottom.
Taylorville CUSD #3 pays more across the board.
Pana CUSD #8 pays more across the board.
Prairie Central pays its beginning teachers more.
Tri-Valley pays its beginning teachers more.
Reed Custer pays more across the board.
Clinton CUSD #15 pays beginning teachers more.
Champaign, Urbana, and Bloomington all pay beginning teachers more, but of course they have much higher enrollments.
All of this info is available at ISBE. It is based on last year's salary and does not take into account education level. That's too many numbers for me to look at. It is also only secondary schools. Here's the link to the entire info
http://www.isbe.net/research/pdfs/teacher_salary_09-10.pdf
Thanks for the data. I have copied the table entries for the districts you mentioned below.
When I read it and think about attracting the best teachers, my eye does not immediately go to the column for beginning teachers with a bachelor's degree and no experience. I would think that the M-S district would rather compete for experienced teachers and let Fisher or Villa Grove attract the new teachers.
My eye first goes to the right hand column-- the highest scheduled salaries. In that column, M-S is only behind Reed-Custer among the schools you mentioned. And because of their location, Reed Custer has to compete with the suburban school districts for their teachers. When I compare M-S to the other districts, I find that M-S teachers peak out >$15K higher than Iroquois West and ~$4K higher than Villa Grove and Charleston. It appears that M-S pays more for education than the other districts. It extends the pay cap for teachers with a master's plus 90 hrs, while the others max out at a master's plus 32-48 or a CAS.
Next I would look at the salary of a typical mid-career teacher. I assume that is what the column with a master's plus ten years is supposed to represent. Once again, Reed Custer is an outlier, but M-S is right in the middle of the rest. Prairie Central and Tri Valley are best positioned to compete for these teachers, however.
So what I conclude is that the M-S salary schedule is designed to attract the most experience and best educated teachers. It is competitive for the mid-career teachers, and would be less attractive for beginning teachers.
| District Name | Bachelor's Degree | Master's Degree | Master's | Master's Degree + 30-32 Hrs |
Highest Scheduled Salary |
||||||||
| Min | Yr | Max | Min | Yr | Max | 10 Yrs | Min | Yr | Max | Yr | Max | Deg+Hrs | |
| Mahomet-Seymour CUSD 3 | 33,055 | 30 | 53,434 | 34,692 | 30 | 63,750 | 44,924 | 36,328 | 30 | 68,586 | 30 | 76,040 | Mas. 90 |
| Fisher CUSD 1 | 36,198 | 14 | 45,843 | 38,438 | 33 | 67,032 | 44,506 | 40,927 | 33 | 69,521 | 33 | 70,766 | Mas. 48 |
| Gibson City-MS CUSD 5 | 33,910 | 24 | 54,110 | 35,910 | 30 | 67,135 | 44,510 | . | . | . | 30 | 67,135 | Mas. 0 |
| Iroquois West CUSD 10 | 33,680 | 16 | 46,042 | 36,550 | 23 | 54,320 | 43,503 | 39,419 | 27 | 60,280 | 27 | 60,280 | Mas. 32 |
| Villa Grove CUSD 302 | 40,581 | 34 | 52,572 | 41,981 | 34 | 61,275 | 47,671 | 44,090 | 34 | 71,863 | 34 | 71,863 | CAS 0 |
| Effingham CUSD 40 | 31,940 | 24 | 60,865 | 34,400 | 24 | 67,750 | 44,880 | . | . | . | 24 | 70,545 | Mas. 16 |
| Charleston CUSD 1 | 33,658 | 26 | 49,103 | 37,767 | 26 | 68,722 | 43,561 | 38,398 | 26 | 71,250 | 26 | 72,515 | CAS 0 |
| Taylorville CUSD 3 | 36,681 | 31 | 60,214 | 37,883 | 31 | 64,078 | 44,726 | 39,403 | 31 | 65,596 | 31 | 65,596 | Mas. 32 |
| Pana CUSD 8 | 35,301 | 30 | 57,540 | 37,701 | 30 | 59,941 | 45,115 | 40,102 | 30 | 62,341 | 30 | 62,341 | Mas. 32 |
| Prairie Central CUSD 8 | 34,584 | 10 | 46,437 | 39,853 | 15 | 56,973 | 51,705 | 45,120 | 18 | 67,509 | 18 | 68,826 | Mas. 40 |
| Tri Valley CUSD 3 | 33,775 | 9 | 44,388 | 38,287 | 15 | 59,540 | 50,488 | 42,800 | 17 | 68,614 | 17 | 68,614 | Mas. 32 |
| Reed Custer CUSD 255U | 40,092 | 12 | 53,549 | 45,622 | 17 | 73,895 | 59,839 | 51,151 | 19 | 85,191 | 19 | 85,191 | Mas. 32 |
| Clinton CUSD 15 | 33,250 | 14 | 44,785 | 36,203 | 22 | 57,808 | 44,785 | 39,418 | 25 | 67,090 | 25 | 70,006 | Mas. 48 |
From: Matt Difanis
Sent: Friday, August 20, 2010 10:31 AM
To: tgreene@ms.k12.il.us; vniswander@ms.k12.il.us; cmelchi@ms.k12.il.us; vwoodruff@ms.k12.il.us; mmccomb@ms.k12.il.us; bryherd@ms.k12.il.us; mgiles@ms.k12.il.us
Subject: In support of the school board
Dear Board Members:
I have lived in Mahomet for the last eight years, paying school district taxes during that time with no children in the district’s schools. This week was to have been my son’s first day of kindergarten, about which he was very excited. So it was a major disappointment to my family to have an eleventh hour strike leave my wife and me with the task of telling our son that his first day of school was canceled and that we don’t know when he will get to start.
I am writing to express my strong support for the school board’s position in negotiations thus far. I especially appreciate your taking seriously your responsibility to protect district’s taxpayers by ensuring that precious reserves are not raided at a time when much economic uncertainty remains in the future.
For whatever it’s worth, my impression is that public opinion seems to be with the board. People across the socioeconomic spectrum seem to appreciate that this is not an appropriate economic environment for some of the region’s best paid educators to disrupt and damage the entire community while holding out for raises that are simply out of line with what is reasonable in the context of an economy filled with unemployed teachers and a tremendous number of other workers of all professions who have lived for years without pay raises while simultaneously feeling the impact of increased healthcare costs.
Thank you all for your public service, which I realize must have become extraordinarily time consuming for all of you in recent days and weeks. And thank you for your continued good stewardship of tax dollars entrusted to your care.
Sincerely,
Matt
Matt's observations deserve consideration, and so I offer this from an earlier exchange: I do not yet find the MSEA's arguments to be persuasive. Whether it is their intention, or not, the MSEA presentations -- public and private -- are reinforcing a perception that this is all "me, me, me". In terms of work conditions, job security (a very big consideration to many), overall compensation, retirement benefits, and health insurance, the MSEA is comfortably ahead of all but a thin fraction of the community. Moreover, it may be that our national and local economies are on the brink of an abrupt deflationary spiral that could decimate property tax receipts; there is already some evidence of that now, with dozens of homes being reassessed downward. This concern alone suggests some very real merit for fiscal caution this year and next. That said, I remain neutral but skeptical and waiting to be persuaded. Can MSEA tell me how this strike is good for anyone OTHER than the MSEA? How does this help the kids? The community? Educator/community/administrator relations? Current and future fiscal security? What is the "up" point that some of us cannot yet see here? So far, I am sorry to say that MSEA has not yet made its case for broader benefits to all that would justify this enormously disruptive (and potentially explosive) work stoppage. I yield the floor to anyone who can.
Matt,
How our your thoughts on the the new Admin building and K building? I do not know why you moved to mahomet 8 years ago- Schools might have been part of your reasons. MS hires great teachers why not pay them 1 % when the school district has the money to do so? 4.5 million sitting in the bank, and htey are not willing to let go of $150,000. I think you might have it backwards about who did not let your son go to school this week.
MS PARENT
In response to Joan Jordan's comment that Terry Greene is trying to prove that the board and administration run the district....Well, Joan, I hate to break it to you, but they do run the district. The publication of Ms. Jordan's words demonstrates how out of tune with reality this union and its leadership is. The taxpayers voted for them to be fiscally responsible for the district and its employees. Thank you to the board for not giving in to these foolish demands and for sticking with the platform of fiscal responsibility for which they were elected.
When have you ever heard someone say "I want to be a teacher because the money is great?" Never.
Teachers teach for the kids, right?
Well it doesn't seem that way here. If this is all about the kids, then get them back to school. They want to be there. All the way from Kindergarten to the Seniors.
So I suggest the teachers get back to school and do this negotiating on their own time. I don't want to pay you for walking up and down the street all day. That's what I am doing right now.
If you care about your support staff so much--they aren't getting paid while you are on strike! Let them go back to work.
Get back in the classrooms! Your strike is doing nothing to help these children.
Don't ignore the Board's decision to allocate $12 million without the union or the public's consent. The Board plans to build a new administrative center valued at $12 million. At the same time they cut teacher positions, increased class sizes, and purchased acreage for a new school.
Union representatives have shared this with the press, but after filling their articles with long quotes from the school board facts like that don't fit in the headlines.
Mahomettaxpayer- you are not paying the teachers to walk up and down the street. You are paying them money they earned last school year. Teachers do not go into education to make lots of money- but teachers have their own children to feed and take care of. And yes I know the MS teachers when your child struggles this year they will put in the extra time to help them. Why? Becuase they are teachers.
In talking one-on-one with a MSEA member this morning (which I felt that I needed to do due to all of the conflicting information on this site), it was made very clear that both the 1- and 2-year proposals by MSEA would NOT require any raising of taxes in Mahomet. I agree with you, though, cretis16--let's get those teachers back to work! I'd like to hear more about the school board NEGOTIATING rather than just offering.
That might not require the raising of our taxes right now but down the road it will catch up with us. Did they just tell you that it will take the reserves or come from the money that is supposedly coming from the feds? Why are we trying to spend that supposed federal money before the check is in our hands. Who trusts the feds will actually send that money to us? I don't. I don't go around spending my money before its in my hands so why would I want my school district to do it?
As far as the reserves, we need that money. The state isn't paying us or any other district. We were lucky not to have to lay off teachers last year because of those reserves. Other districts weren't so lucky. We can't rely on our state right now, it's in shambles. It owes millions that it isn't paying. The only one we can rely on is ourselves. Do you run your house without a savings account just in case? Nope, and I don't want my district running without one either.
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