McHenry High School District 156 teachers and the school board have been meeting behind closed door since 7:30 p.m.
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“We are working to resolve significant issues that are important to both sides”, a statement from the association said.
“Please understand that this situation can change at any moment”, it said.
On Thursday morning, in the first hour of the strike, about 50 teachers were walking on the sidewalk in front of the high school, along State Street.
East St. Louis School District 189 spokeswoman Kelli Hawkins said Wednesday the superintendent is hopeful teachers will meet Thursday and reconsider the district’s contract offer.
The strike means classes, extracurriculars and co-curricular activities will be canceled for the roughly 2,500 students in the district.
Negotiations began in March then broke down and entered federal mediation.
According to the offers last submitted to the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board, the school board was proposing annual base salary increases of 2.09 percent, 1.85 percent and 1.86 percent, respectively, for each year of a three-year contract.
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“The district can not afford to pay step increases of this magnitude due to unstable/uncertain funding sources”, says an information sheet distributed by the district.
