Suburban Naperville teachers authorize strike, still hoping to avoid walkout

Teachers in suburban Naperville have voted to authorize a strike, but hope to avoid a work stoppage as they begin the school year without a contract.

According to the teachers’ union, the vote occurred this week as negotiations continue with the board of education in Naperville District 203, with classes resuming on Thursday.

With negotiations set to continue next week, parents are hoping that a deal can be reached to avoid a work stoppage.

“I know that our educators do an amazing job for our kids in the district,” parent Martha Cammarata said. “I think they should have fair compensation, (but) I also think there’s a budget that has to be maintained using taxpayers dollars to pay for the budget within the school district.”

The Naperville Unit Education Association represents more than 1,500 teachers. The president of the union said they’ve been negotiating since February, and the union’s contract expired in June.

While President Ross Berkley said the union is hoping to avoid a strike, he did warn that it remains a legitimate option amid the negotiations.

 “We’re going to continue to make progress however a strike could happen that is something that could happen and it’s something we absolutely don’t want to happen,” he said. “The frustration level is high.”

The union says it is seeking a base salary increase of 3.9% in the first year of a new deal and 3.7% in its second year. They are also proposing changes to the structure of the school day, and to the learning experience for students.

“The district has really wanted to implement what they’re calling an ‘innovative school experience,’ and what that entails is changing the very structure of our elementary junior and high school days as well as our early childhood (education),” Berkley said. “It can move the start and end times the lengths of the school days dramatically.”

While the board education president did not respond to NBC Chicago’s request for comment, he did address the contract negotiations in a letter to parents.

The letter indicates the board is offering an “average compounded raise of over 10% across the first two years” of a new deal, and that teachers’ starting salary would increase by more than 5%.

He also argued that the union’s current proposal would damage the district’s long-term financial health, and said the union’s numbers are disingenuous.

Berkley said the union is confident in its proposal, and that the impetus in the negotiations now lies with the board.

“This is a distraction that we need to go away. There’s a lot of noise and the ball is in the board’s court at this point,” he said.

A negotiating session is scheduled for Tuesday, according to union officials.