A dispute between Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 leaders and the Lake County Federation of Teachers Local 504, with a potential $1 million pricetag, may be headed to arbitration.
After a few teachers took online courses from the Albion Center for Professional Development, affiliated with Idaho State University, starting in the 2015-2016 school year, the number spiked to 74 in the past two terms.
Additional education can translate to increased pay under the union contract.
As the number of teachers taking the courses increased, District 60 Superintendent Theresa Plascencia said the administration took a closer look, and a number of requests for advancement were denied.
“This is not a question of whether professional development occurred, but whether it meets the specific graduate-level standard required for salary advancement under the teachers’ contract,” Plascencia said.
After the union filed a grievance with the district seeking approval for all of the courses, claiming they were appropriate professional development, the two sides were unable to come to an agreement. The union appealed to the District 60 Board of Education.
The board voted 6-1 to deny the grievance and additional pay on Tuesday at the Education Service Center in Waukegan, setting the stage for potential arbitration between the union and the district.
Union President Andy Friedlieb said in an email Wednesday that the teachers made a good-faith effort to work with administrators to resolve the dispute, but the district started investigating credits earned at the Albion Center, potentially putting raises teachers received in jeopardy.
“Board of education representatives expanded the scope of the dispute, and … have doubled the number of teachers whose work and learning credits are in question,” Friedlieb said. “Should all teachers with master’s degrees be worried that the district is coming after their credits?”
Kathryn Vander Broek, the district’s general counsel, said there are four steps to the grievance process, and the appeal to the board is the third. Initially, the parties try to resolve the matter informally.
If informal talks fail, Vander Broek said an administrator is designated to resolve the dispute with union members. Since the first formal step did not produce a result, Plascencia or her designee got involved. If the union is dissatisfied, then there can be an appeal to the board as happened on Tuesday.
Now, Vander Broek said the district has 10 school days to provide a written explanation. Once the union receives the written response from the administration, it has 30 days to file for binding arbitration.
The financial impact could be significant for both sides. Gwen Polk, the associate superintendent for business and financial services, said she vetted a sample of 29 teachers. The projected cost for the group alone would approach $1 million over five years.
When one teacher took a course from the Albion Center in the 2015-2016 school year, and 23 more in a nine-year span ending with the 2023-2024 term, credits were approved. Polk said in the next two years, 74 teachers took Albion Center courses.
Plascencia said the significant increase over two years prompted a thorough review by the administration. Some teachers submitted 45 or more credit hours within a few semesters.
“As part of the district’s review, an administrator enrolled in and completed a module submitted for graduate credit, including the post-course assessment, in less than one hour,” she said. “This raised additional concerns about the level of rigor.”
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Friedlieb said rather than work with the union in good faith to find a solution, the board’s decision creates more uncertainty for the teachers who count on professional development courses to improve their skills and compensation.
“Classes from ISU have been consistently accepted by the Waukegan public schools administration,” he said. “In October, the district abruptly reversed this practice and denied credits from ISU for the first time without warning, impacting dozens of educators, including teachers.”
Raye Anne Nickerson, a teacher and 30-year union member, said at the meeting that the courses she took through the Albion Center offered a significant challenge. She took them to improve her skills and earn additional compensation. One was for teaching students with diverse backgrounds.
“The course has eight modules, each with multiple readings, multimedia, which are videos and podcasts, and a 10-question quiz after each module,” Nickerson said. “To deny the credits after the fact is a clear breach of our union contract.”
Trying to understand the complexity of the Albion center classes, Amanda Milewski, the district’s associate superintendent of strategy and accountability, said she took one of the online courses earlier this year to learn more about them.
Milewski said it took her 24 minutes to complete the course and take the eight multiple-choice quizzes to earn three credit hours, which is equivalent to spending three hours a week in class during a 16-week semester.
“After participating in this class, none of my prior graduate-level experience was mirrored,” she said. “I didn’t have to think deeply, write anything or read anything. It raises some wonderings about the differences (of) my prior graduate-level courses and (what) the teachers are saying is graduate-level work.”
Board President Michael Rodriguez and board members Angela Ramirez, Jeff McBride, Christine Lensing, Carolina Fabian and Rick Riddle, voted to approve the administration’s recommendation of a denial of the grievance. Board member Anita Hanna voted no.