Update: Board Weighs In on 109 Talks

(Update at 9:45 a.m.) Deerfield Public Schools District 109 negotiating representative and School Board member Steve Schwartz agreed with the upbeat assessment of Thursday’s mediation session outlined by teacher’s union President Dennis Jensen.

“We had real bargaining, that was good,” Schwartz said. “It’s hard to tell how much progress was made but it was certainly in the right direction. We felt we had some good face time.”

Schwartz acknowledged receiving a counter proposal from the union on teacher evaluations and expects to see one on the compensation package at the Feb. 29 mediation session. The next round is Tuesday.

(Earlier) Representatives of the Deerfield Education Association teacher’s union gave a counter proposal on teacher evaluation to the negotiating team from Deerfield Public Schools District 109 at Thursday night’s mediation session, according to union President Dennis Jensen.

The groups meet again Tuesday.

Earlier: Parents Tell 109 Board, Union to Settle

Teacher evaluation has been one of the sticking points in the ongoing talks between the two sides since October. The teachers have been working on an unexpired contract since August when the school year began.

The School Board gave the union a proposal at on grading teachers at their Jan. 31 mediation session and the union gave its response Thursday. Jensen declined to say what was in the counter offer.

Overall, Jensen was pleased the tone of the meeting in the aftermath of a strike vote by the union Feb. 10 and charges of scare tactics from Board President Ellen London Sunday.

“It went pretty good,” Jensen said. “We spent a lot of time talking to each other. It was good for us to get back to the table and start to know each other again. We’re trying to do the right thing.”

Board mediation representative Steve Schwartz did not return calls to Patch for comment before the deadline.

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