07-06-2010, 07:32 AM
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SOME WAUKEGAN TEACHERS BEING RECALLED
July 6, 2010
By DAN MORAN <!-- e --><a href="mailto:dmoran@stmedianetwork.com">dmoran@stmedianetwork.com</a><!-- e -->
WAUKEGAN -- Four months after the Waukegan School District issued more than 500 layoff notices to employees while wrangling with a $9.74 million budget deficit, officials have announced the Board of Education will meet Thursday "for the purpose of providing the board an opportunity to recall teachers who were issued reduction in force (RIF) notices."
When the district issued the RIF letters in March, officials pointed out that they were complying with notification requirements about possible cuts, and that any proposed reductions could be scaled back if and when funding became available.
That reportedly is now the case. According to district spokesman Nicholas Alajakis, the board will consider giving authorization to bring back up to 85 teachers who faced layoffs.
The recall notices are being made possible after the district achieved a proposed balanced budget -- though the document is still about a month away from approval -- and also after negotiations with the Lake County Federation of Teachers reached a tentative settlement.
"The district and the union reached a tentative agreement on a collective bargaining agreement," federation president Mike McGue said. "My understanding is that (membership) is going to have a ratification session on or around the first day of school."
McGue added that he could not share details of the agreement, since union leadership was still in the process of informing members.
It is known that the district is considering a budget of $140 million based on expenditures of $140 million, down from proposed spending of nearly $149 million in February.
Since that time, the district implemented salary and benefit reductions for administrators and non-union personnel, and cut $2 million by changing its bus company. In early June, the district cut another $2.31 million by eliminating employee positions that included 13 special education support staff and six driver's education positions.
The proposed action at Thursday's 6 p.m. meeting in Lincoln Center would not be the first time the district has pulled back from RIF notices. In late May, some 170 employees -- including third- and fourth-year teachers -- were told that they would be brought back for the coming school year.
SOME WAUKEGAN TEACHERS BEING RECALLED
July 6, 2010
By DAN MORAN <!-- e --><a href="mailto:dmoran@stmedianetwork.com">dmoran@stmedianetwork.com</a><!-- e -->
WAUKEGAN -- Four months after the Waukegan School District issued more than 500 layoff notices to employees while wrangling with a $9.74 million budget deficit, officials have announced the Board of Education will meet Thursday "for the purpose of providing the board an opportunity to recall teachers who were issued reduction in force (RIF) notices."
When the district issued the RIF letters in March, officials pointed out that they were complying with notification requirements about possible cuts, and that any proposed reductions could be scaled back if and when funding became available.
That reportedly is now the case. According to district spokesman Nicholas Alajakis, the board will consider giving authorization to bring back up to 85 teachers who faced layoffs.
The recall notices are being made possible after the district achieved a proposed balanced budget -- though the document is still about a month away from approval -- and also after negotiations with the Lake County Federation of Teachers reached a tentative settlement.
"The district and the union reached a tentative agreement on a collective bargaining agreement," federation president Mike McGue said. "My understanding is that (membership) is going to have a ratification session on or around the first day of school."
McGue added that he could not share details of the agreement, since union leadership was still in the process of informing members.
It is known that the district is considering a budget of $140 million based on expenditures of $140 million, down from proposed spending of nearly $149 million in February.
Since that time, the district implemented salary and benefit reductions for administrators and non-union personnel, and cut $2 million by changing its bus company. In early June, the district cut another $2.31 million by eliminating employee positions that included 13 special education support staff and six driver's education positions.
The proposed action at Thursday's 6 p.m. meeting in Lincoln Center would not be the first time the district has pulled back from RIF notices. In late May, some 170 employees -- including third- and fourth-year teachers -- were told that they would be brought back for the coming school year.