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Niles West News

The Student News Site of Niles West High School

Niles West News

The Student News Site of Niles West High School

Niles West News

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School Board and NTFT Agreement Passed

After months of negotiation, the school board and NTFT union came to a final decision on Monday, March 21 regarding the restructuring plan for the school year 2011-2012.

The newly revised agreement entails a majority of the same points from the previous version the board and union agreed upon. The alterations in it are: $30,000 a year will be available for certification endorsement or high qualifying status to all teachers that apply in all departments,  as well as all P.E. teachers who are not coaching a varsity sport will have to teach six classes. Sophomore P.E. classes will have 30 students per class, since Health will now be embedded in them; however, this number is changeable. The tenured teachers who were scheduled to be dismissed previously are not going to be let go for the upcoming year.

“We’re happy that we were able to come to an agreement to save the 10 tenured teachers,” said board president Bob Silverman. “And that we are still able to save an additional $1 million in salaries and benefits next year.”

NTFT president Pankaj Sharma agreed.

“Clearly it is positive that we have reached an agreement,” said Sharma.  “And we sincerely hope that this will put an end to the unhealthy and contentious atmosphere in our schools that has been a major concern for teachers, students, and parents for the past three months.”

According to the community relations director, Jim Sczcepaniak, the agreement was put to a halt because of how the written agreement was worded.

“The concepts were approved by both sides,” he said. “But when it came time to [the written agreement], there was some disagreement in specific language about one of the issues.

According to the union, non-tenured teachers will be affected by the agreement; however, most non-tenured teachers have not been told of their employment status for next year due to staffing delays.

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  • K

    Kruti DaveApr 6, 2011 at 3:02 PM

    I feel it’s a positive outlook that we have at least a few teachers coming back. Although, I’m concerned with the other amount of teachers because they may be at risk at being fired. This is never something we should be supportive of if the teachers have caused no harm.

    Reply
  • A

    AliApr 6, 2011 at 2:59 PM

    It’s good that the ten teachers are coming back next year. However, I really hope that next year, we won’t have a “we can’t save you this year because we saved you last year” situation. But since these ten teachers were saved, I have a feeling that ten non-tenured teachers will not be coming back next year. Hopefully, this won’t happen.

    Reply
  • H

    Hafsa WahidApr 5, 2011 at 7:13 PM

    I am glad we saved the ten tenured teachers, but the fact that the non-tenured teachers have not been told their status is a concern to me and a lot of other people.

    Reply
  • F

    FatimaApr 5, 2011 at 4:02 PM

    I am really glad they aren’t letting go of the teachers. It would have been horrible for them and not so great for the school either.

    Reply