After months of negotiating, Evanston/Skokie School District 65 board members voted unanimously to approve a four-year teachers’ contract at their meeting Monday night.
The ratification marks the end of negotiations that began in the spring. Teachers have continued to operate under the old contract since it expired in August.
The new agreement calls for pay raises of between 3.25 and 3.5 percent each year, according to a statement released by the board Monday night. After seniority raises are considered, totals will come to around 6 percent for most teachers.
The deal also includes a provision that calls for an extra 10 minutes of instructional time each elementary school day and an extra 20 minutes each middle school day. The extensions, a major sticking point of negotiations, will enable “smoother classroom transitions and less hectic school days,” the statement said.
To compromise with teacher concerns about the length of the work day, administrators agreed to shorten the time teachers must be at the school before students arrive.
The schedule adjustments will take place beginning next year, the statement said.
The full contract was not available Monday night.
“We’re glad that we have an agreement by which teachers are well-compensated, the students can continue to learn and the district to move forward,” said board negotiating team member Keith Terry before the meeting.
Negotiations were initiated in the spring as the old contract’s August expiration date approached. Administrators and teachers thought they had reached an agreement by the end of the summer, but nearly 85 percent of teachers voted against the tentative agreement when it came up for a vote during the first week of school. Voicing concerns over the pay raise amount and workday extension, teachers gathered to protest when negotiations restarted weeks later.
A new tentative agreement was reached after a marathon negotiating session that began Nov. 6 and ended in the early hours of Nov. 7. The teachers’ union officially approved the contract Nov. 14, leaving the school board with the final approval.
“A lot of hard work went into making this work,” said Darlene von Behren, the district’s director of human resources.
Teachers at the meeting declined to comment on the contract or the negotiations. A statement from the union is expected later this week.
