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Community Corner

It's Official: District 219 Will Keep 10 Tenured Teachers After All

Board unanimously approves agreement with teachers' union.

Editor's note: District 219 still plans to layoff several teachers to save money. However, the 10 tenured teachers will not be laid off in part of that process. Also, the new administrative hires reported are replacing former, retired administrators. Apologies for any confusion. 

Averting a planned teacher layoff that sparked a student walkout,  Niles Township High School District 219  reversed course Monday, voting to save the jobs of 10 tenured teachers.

This developed as District 219 announced the appointment of three new administrators, including an assistant principal of Student Services at Niles North High School. 

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The District 219 school board, led by President Robert Silverman, voted unanimously to approve the agreement with the Niles Township Federation of Teachers that would keep the teachers at least until the 2016-2017 school year.

The agreement states there will be "No PW (Physical Welfare) Reductions in Force until 2016-2017," and if such reductions occur, it would only "take effect in 2017-2018."

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"The board and the union have been working hard to come to an agreement that would satisfy both parties," school district spokesman Jim Szczepaniak said. "We're glad to have that finally completed tonight."

"Now we can continue with our main priority, which is educating our students," he added. 

Only last month, the teachers union was told that 10 educators will be teaching only until the end of this school year. The board said eliminating those positions would have saved the District about $1 million next year.

For Niles North High School business instructor Angie Hankes, who witnessed the final vote, the decision came as a relief.

Hankes, one of the 10 educators scheduled to leave, let out a faint but audible sigh when the agreement was approved.  

"Knowing that I will have a job that I love and am passionate about for the next several years is going to help me move on from the disappointment and the frustration that this process has caused me, my family, and my community," Hankes said.

She added that her family was planning to move out of Skokie had the layoff pushed through. 

Hankes also reiterated her stand that the layoff was unnecessary, even as she acknowledged that "the district needs to be financially responsible."

Pankaj Sharma, president of the teachers union, was earlier reported as saying that the district did not need any immediate staffing cuts because it had more than $110 million in reserves.

In the aftermath of that original layoff announcement, an estimated 300 students from March 17 in support of teachers, as well as union workers in Wisconsin. 

With the new agreement, all 22 most senior members of the district's physical welfare department "will be protected from reductions" except when there's cause for termination, retirement or resignation.

Also, the remaining "least senior members" are given the chance to re-certify in other departments. A pool of $30,000 will also be made available to all teachers, for tuition reimbursement in the case that they take additional certifications.

, the agreement will also fold the health course into the sophomore physical education.

Meanwhile, District 219 Superintendent Nanciann Gatta presented to the board and parents attending the Monday meeting three new appointees to the District 219 administration. 

The three are Bridget Connolly as assistant principal of student services at Niles North; Tony Bradburn, director of English and reading at Niles North and John Frampton as director of Niles Central.  They will assume office on July 1. 

Connolly has a masters degree in psychology from Loyola University. Bradburn obtained a masters in school leadership at Concordia University, while Frampton earned his doctorate in school psychology from Alfred University in New York.  

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