Publications & Sites 
Barrington D-220 teachers union could vote on tentative contract agreement this week
Brian Battle, president of the Barrington School District 220 Board of Education.
Updated: March 15, 2013 12:10PM
BARRINGTON — The Barrington 220 Board of Education and the Barrington Education Association have come to terms on a three-year deal, union and district officials announced last week.
The terms of the deal were not immediately available as the School Board and teachers union must still vote to ratify the agreement.
Jeff Arnett, chief communications officer for District 220, reported on Monday that the teachers union was working to schedule a vote this week. The results of that vote would be announced by the union, he added.
If the union ratifies the agreement before this weekend, Arnett said the School Board could cast votes on the contract as early as its regularly scheduled meeting on Feb. 19. The Board’s next regularly scheduled meeting is March 5.
The Board vote will be in open session, Arnett said, and the full contract might be made available that night or would be released soon after.
If approved, the new terms will be applied retroactively to the beginning of this school year, when the previous contract expired, according to the district statement last week. The union represents more than 700 teachers.
“I think on behalf of the Board and the community, we are pleased to reach an agreement,” School Board president Brian Battle said. “Both parties hope we can work through the steps as quickly as possible.”
Battle attributed the lengthy negotiations to the current economic environment. He also said funding uncertainty out of the General Assembly in Springfield played a role in the 11-month process.
If a deal wasn’t reached after the Feb. 5 negotiation session, both sides’ last and final offers were to be made public on Feb. 7 by the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board. The state-mandated timelines and regulations went into effect Jan. 24 after the teachers union declared an official impasse in negotiations.
A summary of the agreement will be made public once it is ratified, the district stated, and the full agreement will be available online soon after.
The School Board and the union have been in negotiations since Spring, about 11 months. The two sides reportedly discussed more than 40 labor and financial issues.
Battle said the new contract will allow the district to maintain its innovative programs for students in the coming years.
