The Homewood-Flossmoor Board on Monday was delighted to approve a three-year contract extension with teachers reached through collaborative bargaining.
There was much congratulating from board members who thanked Dana Noble, president of the Homewood-Flossmoor Education Organization (HFEO), and school negotiators Jodi Bryant, director of human resources, and Ken Parchem, business manager, for their work in reaching the agreement.
The board and teachers have been using an interest-based negotiations model that both sides were trained in at Harvard University. This style of negotiation has put aside the rancor that was typical of past contract talks each year. Now both sides come to the table with a common understanding of how H-F can meet the needs of all its employees, students and the community.
This is the third three-year contract HFEO has settled with the school board. This contract is for Sept. 1, 2015 through Aug. 31, 2018 and covers about 220 staff members—teachers, counselors, deans, social workers and other staff as well as instructional assistants. It provides teachers an average salary increase of 2.7 percent each of the three years and with the traditional teacher salary step increases. Teachers will pay additional costs for insurance.
Parchem thanked the board for trusting the team to reach a sound agreement that benefits both sides. He said the consentual bargaining approach impressed representatives of Standard & Poors when it reviewed H-F’s business model for its triple-A rating.
“This (negotiating style) works well for our team and our district. We really don’t focus in just on this contract but the longevity of the district,” he said.
“I think the process at Homewood-Flossmoor High School is invaluable to what we do. We’re always looking at the longevity,” Noble added. “When I look at the staff we have here, we have a lot of our teachers within that 10- to 15-year experience range.
They’re going to be here for awhile,” and so the team went through the contract line-by-line to make certain all points were meeting essential needs.
“We want this to be a good high school for them to work in, and the students to have an opportunity that‘s better than everyone else around us. I think by looking at the long term we do that very well,” the teachers’ president said.
“We’re not just looking at dollars and cents and insurance, we’re looking at what’s this place going to look like five, 10, 15 years out. We consider the teachers’ and students’ interests,” Noble stressed.
Richard Lites, president of the H-F board, said such collaboration “is a real success story,” and member Jodie Scariano said the board’s pledge of respect extends not just to their fellow board members but to all H-F personnel. This collaborative effort shows how H-F works toward cooperation at all levels, Scariano said.
