Teachers in Geneva School District 304 are on strike Tuesday after their union and district negotiators could not reach a contract settlement overnight.þþMembers of the Geneva Education Association will begin picketing early this morning, union officials announced about 2 a.m. Tuesday.þþBargaining teams met from 6 p.m. until well after midnight.þþ“We worked with the school board for nearly eight hours to try and reach a tentative agreement. In the end, we made the difficult decision to go on strike,” union President Kevin Gannon said in a statement.þþ“The board’s salary model continues to be an untested model that no other school district in Kane County uses to compensate its educators. Our members and the community have been very clear that a traditional step and lane salary schedule that determines salary based on experience and education is important to them. The board’s latest offer does not meet that expectation.”þþClasses, after-school activities, athletics and field trips have been canceled, the district said.þþHowever, the strike does not affect students who attend the Fox Valley Career Center, a Mid-Valley Special Education Cooperative program or are enrolled in a therapeutic day placement would still be able to attend school, according to the district. Preschool at the park district-run Friendship Station program in Geneva Middle School South will not be canceled.þþThe Geneva Education Association represents more than 450 teachers at nine District 304 schools. District enrollment is about 5,800 students.þþThe current teachers contract expired in August. Both sides have been negotiating since February.
Source: Chicago Tribune
