Advertise here
You are here: Home / Education / Grayslake District 46 Teachers Strike

Grayslake District 46 Teachers Strike

January 16, 2013 By 9 Comments

Grayslake District 46 teachers and board did not resolve their differences and will be on strike in the morning, Wed.

d46strike1/15/13 – Per Superintendent Correll at 11:52PM:

Unfortunately, the Board of Education and D46 teachers were unable to reach an agreement. The teachers have informed the district that they will be on strike beginning tomorrow, Wednesday, January 16th. Please watch the website for further updates.

If you want to learn more about what is happening attend the For Our Children’s Future Townhall meeting tonight (Wednesday):

7:00 pm
State Bank of the Lakes
50 Commerce Drive
Grayslake, IL 60030

NBC News was on site tonight:

“We have a board that’s largely been held hostage by three or four board members who are very, very anti-tax. Nobody’s pro-tax but the fact of the matter is these are some of the lowest paid teachers in the surrounding district,” said Mike McGue, the Lake Count Federation of Teachers President

For those of you who do not remember Mr. McGue from the Zion teacher strike in 2012, here is a reminder:

  1. Original letter from LCFT President Mike McGue
  2. Response from Republican 31st State Senate Candidate Lennie Jarratt

McGue

Print Friendly
Share|
Filed Under: Education, Teacher Strike, Top Stories Tagged With: , , , , ,
About Lennie Jarratt

Small Business Owner, Education Watchdog, FOIA expert, Founder of For Our Children's Future

  • Wolf

    It is great to see someone finally has the courage to start the restructuring and reform process of these bloated Public Education operations that are bankrupting the taxpayers. There is ample room to restructure when there is 50% over staffing and compensation plus the millionaire pension scams. The Public Education Systems generally operate at more than 300% above what is necessary for a functional and effective Education System. The target should be a total Education operation cost that is based on $7K per student annually which is still higher then the efficient and effective Private and Parochial Education Systems use. It will take strong management and operation acumen and courage to stand against forces for continuing the unsustainable status quo here but a strike is the optimum opportunity to initiate the long over due reform here. The effort here will not bring relief to the over taxed taxpayers but it will improve the total Educational process for the students. It could be an example for all the Public School Districts in the country that real change can happen to address the number one issue destroying this nation – the massively bloated Public Sector operations.

  • Justin Burns

    The conflict in D46 is not the result of some grand ideological battle between cosmic forces. It’s not the result of “massively bloated Public Sector operations.” It’s the result of petty bickering between board members who care more about their own personal/political agendas than they do about the education of these children. They think their job is to protect their own pocketbooks from the “greedy” hands of public schools. I was under the impression that it was their job to ensure that these children receive a quality education that the community could afford. On Tuesday night, both sides were offered a proposal by an impartial 3rd party (federal mediator) that the district could easily afford without raising anyone’s taxes. The teachers agreed to the proposal even though it was less than they were hoping for. The board refused to accept the offer. They could have avoided a teacher strike by accepting an offer that was affordable and fair. They thought it was more important to disrupt the education of these children and inconvenience their own constituents.

    Our community wants this ridiculous politicking to stop. We want these teachers to go back to work, but the board is getting in the way by being stubborn and unreasonable. After hearing about what happened Tuesday night, it’s clear that this was not the teacher’s choice to strike, but the board’s. Shame on them.

    • LennieJarratt

      From my understanding and looking at the data, the mediator would have cause the district to raise taxes in the very near future.

      • Justin Burns

        First, let’s be clear about my stance so there’s no confusion. Personally, I am not fundamentally opposed to taxes being raised as long as 1) shifting costs elsewhere cannot solve the problem and 2) the money is used for teacher salaries. Based on your understanding and data, how much would the average family need to pay in additional taxes to cover the cost of paying teachers for their experience and education?

        Although, I suppose this is all moot since the two sides have an agreement. We’ll have to wait and see what the numbers are.

  • concerned taxpayer

    I wonder what “low paid” means. Grayslake is not the North Shore, but perhaps they want compensation comparable to Highland Park or Lake Forest without having the tax base to support it. There are thousands of certified teachers who are working as parapros or subs who would probably be delighted to have a fulltime teaching position in Grayslake at the “low” salary. At my school almost all of the parapros are young certified teachers who are working for $11/hour and would be happy with $40K per year.

  • ltcoldon

    Let them strike then replace them don’t be held hostage this state is in total decline.

  • disqus_qHJaeAlJ6d

    It’s nice to see the teachers stand up for their rights. Teachers should be well paid. In Germany they use gas tax to pay for schools, instead of property taxes. Obviously we have to fund schools in some way, and professional teachers should be paid well. This anti-union stuff is getting old. Of course teachers deserve decent wages and benefits. The rest of society should unionize and fight for their own wages and benefits. I wish the teachers success. People shouldn’t use their diminishing wages as a comparison with teachers’ pay. Teachers are smart enough to unionize, and the rest of society should learn from the teachers and stop trying to bring their wages down. Not all the money should go to top executives. That is no way to have a middle class society!

    • concerned taxpayer

      The difference is that teachers are paid with tax dollars. Unions in the private sector are paid with company money – quite different. As you noted, property taxes are the main source of teacher salaries and residents are forced to pay them. This is not the case with companies, which people can choose to patronize or not. If the company doesn’t have enough profits, they cannot pay salary increases. Taxpayers are a captive audience and cannot escape high taxation unless they sell their homes and leave. (Actually this is happening in Illinois. People are leaving the state and going to more affordable states.)