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| FIRST ON WGIL: Tentative Deal Reached Between Galesburg Teachers, School District |
FIRST AIRED 3:26pm 8/19/09, UPDATED 9:00 a-m 8/20/09 Two local groups that have been in negotiations since March have finally reached a tentative agreement.
District 205 Director of Human Resources Diane VanHootegem says the district and members of the Galesburg Education Association Wednesday afternoon reached a tentative deal allowing teachers to go back to work , just in time for next week's start of the school year -- and, on the day when the original teachers contract would have expired.
VanHootegem said the plan would have to be taken to the respective groups and approved by both in order for the plan to become official.
Chief negotiator for the GEA, Margaret Tolley, says she brought the plan in front of teachers Wednesday night at Churchill Junior High School who then approved the new deal by a majority vote.
Tolley tells WGIL many of the teachers are ready to get to work.
"Teachers want to be back in their classrooms. Most teachers have already been back in their classrooms. Their rooms are ready to go. We teach because we want to teach and there would be no reason why we would not want to teach so this was the outcome that we had hoped for and certainly the teachers in Galesburg had hoped for."
Tolley said she could not release any details of the new deal out of respect to the school board, which has yet to review and vote on the tentative plan. Sources tell WGIL teachers were told not to speak to the media following their ratification.
The board plans to vote on the deal, which runs until August 19 of 2011, Monday at 6 p-m in the board room on Harrison Street.
Tolley said there may have been some teachers who were not as fond of some parts of the new contract as others but added there was a lot of applause by teachers as well.
The original contract with the GEA would have expired Wednesday. School starts on Monday in the Galesburg School District. |
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| 08 20 09 by Newsroom |
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