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Lucia Moss
The CFT and Board failed to come to an agreement at their bargaining session last night, which lasted until almost 1 a.m. CFT then filed their intent to strike, making April 4th the earliest strike date. The next bargaining session will take place at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 29th.
What does this mean for students? The answer isn’t clear. While a strike likely means schools won’t be open, the future of the school year (including AP and SAT tests, graduation, and prom) isn’t known. Central High School’s principal, Joe Williams, when asked what the end of the school year would look like if the teachers go on strike, reported that he has not received any direction from the district and has not had any meetings to discuss what a strike would mean for Central students.
If you haven't kept up with the ongoing contract negotiations, here's a quick summary: The CFT and Board currently are not able to agree on a contract for the 2021-2022 school year. The term that can’t be settled is whether or not elementary schools should extend their day by 50 minutes. The Board wants this to be included in the contract, while CFT does not. You may be wondering why something as simple as 50 minutes is causing such a problem and why both the Board and the Union are willing to risk the possibility of a strike for it. In truth, it's not quite as simple as it sounds. To understand the conflict, you need to understand the achievement gap, which is a disparity in academic performance between minoritized and white students. The Unit 4 school district has reported data that shows clear discrepancies between these racial/ethnic groups and their performance on standardized tests. This is the problem the board hopes to solve by extending the elementary school day.
At the March 7th school board meeting, Dr. Angela Ward, Micahel Lehr, and Rhonda Thorton gave the Spring 2022 K-8 data report. This report includes test scores from NWEA, MAP, IAR, SAT/PSAT, DLM-AA, ACCESS, ISA, and more assessments conducted in our district. The Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) is taken by 3rd-8th graders in the district. Not only are our Black and Hispanic students not performing on par with White and Asian students, they’re also not performing at the state average. On average across the state, 32% of students met or exceeded the IAR Math readiness standard for the 2018-2019 school year. 72% of Asian students met or exceeded the standard, 49% of White students met or exceeded, and only 6% of African American and Black students met or exceeded. The IAR ELA test reported similar differences, with 67% of Asian students met or exceeded the standard, 51% of White students met or exceeded, and only 9% of African American and Black students met or exceeded.
The Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) assessment, given to 2nd-8th graders, data shows the same thing. It is important to note that the pandemic seems to have affected all racial/ethnic groups, which can cause outliers in the data and also affect the participation, performance, and data reports in the 2019-2020 school year. For more data, Unit 4’s Illinois report card, and the Unit 4 District Interactive Dashboard are available for public viewing.
So while the problem is clear, the solution has been a huge point of contention between the Board and the Union.
The board's approach, according to their FAQ, is “beginning in the 2023-2024 school year, elementary students’ day will increase by 50 minutes, allowing for additional lunch/recess time and increasing student learning time by 30 minutes. Some of the increased student learning time will be in Library and ‘Specials’ (Music, Art, PE); the time will also support students’ social-emotional learning.” The FAQ does outline how the extra time spent in school will lessen the achievement gap.
Amy Armstrong, President of the Board and a part of the Board’s bargaining committee, declined to comment.
However, the CFT thinks other options are the better solution. At a recent CFT rally on March 4th, Stratton Academy of the Arts elementary school art teacher, Priscilla Putnam, said “the board sees the same problem that we do. But, because we live it and we work it everyday, we know that our kids can’t sustain going longer, and we can’t sustain going longer.” Putnam has ideas for how to close the obvious achievement gap. “Instead of committing to a contract where this extended day is in there, we would like to explore other solutions, like, really committing to smaller class sizes, like, drastically smaller. We know getting to work with smaller groups of students- it’s so much better. We get to know the students, we get to build trust with them. We’ve just seen that’s what works,” stated Putnam.
But, every single teacher I talked to at the last CFT rally, ranging from elementary to high school, said a strike was the last thing they wanted. Carolyn Kodes, an English teacher at Central High School, explained, “we do not want to strike. What a terrible idea, right? It’s the worst time for it. But, if we value our autonomy with students and our professionalism, it's what we’re pushed to. So, teachers do not want to strike, we would much rather be in the classroom with our kids. We are trying to move the Board to reason.”
So, while the problem remains evident and the consequences loom, students, families, and the community await the next actions between the Union and the Board. There are so many questions and seemingly no answers.
The Chronicle will provide more updates as the Board and CFT work to reach an agreement that will best serve the needs of Units 4’s students and teachers, as well as renew teachers’ contracts. Watch this space and follow us on Instagram @Champaign_Central_Chronicle
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