by Bob Skolnik May 21, 2024 May 21, 2024
The teachers union at Riverside Brookfield High School and the school board have approved a two-year contract extension, and a modification of the existing contract that had been set to expire in 2025.
On May 14, the Riverside Brookfield High School District 208 Board of Education unanimously approved a memorandum of agreement that extends the contract and increases raises next year. Members of the Riverside Brookfield Education Association had already approved the agreement.
The agreement increases the raises that RB teachers will receive next year. Teachers with a bachelor’s degree will get a $3,600 raise next year. Teachers with a master’s degree and less than five years’ experience will get a $4,100 raise, while teachers with a master’s degree and five to 10 years of experience will get a $5,300 raise. Teachers with a master’s degree and more than 10 years of experience will get a $5,600 boost. Teachers had been scheduled to get raises ranging from $2,800 to $4,700 next year depending on experience and inflation under the contract that was signed in 2022.
“We were able to negotiate this extension so seamlessly and continue with the good work of the collective bargaining agreement,” said school board president Deanna Zalas.
The extension only changes the financial terms of the existing contract. All other contract language will remain in place until June 30, 2027.
In the two years added to the contract, teachers will receive flat dollar raises of $3,500 to $5,500, depending on experience and the rate of inflation.
Zalas said that it was beneficial to extend the contract for two years with the new financial terms.
“I think of the time savings,” Zalas said. “We’ve made some really good progress on the peer evaluation and the division head initiative that are in this contract. We didn’t touch on any of that so we’re building on that continued just by extending the terms of this contract.”
RBEA President Dan Bonarigo, a math teacher at RB, said that the contract extension was a product of the collaborative relationship between the RBEA and the school board.
“The RBEA and District 208 met on a number of occasions over a few months to refine the details of the contract extension,” Bonarigo said in an email. “The RBEA and District 208 have a collaborative working relationship and this extension is another example of that relationship. We are looking forward to working together now and into the future.”
Bonarigo declined to reveal the exact results of the union ratification vote.
Superintendent Kevin Skinkis and Assistant Superintendent Kristin Smetana handled the negotiations for the school board.
Fringe benefits will remain the same in the contract extension.
Salary ranges from teachers with a bachelor’s degree will now range from $56,000 to $86,000. For teachers with a master’s degree, the salary range will be $64,000 to $139,500. For teachers with master’s plus 30 additional hours of graduate school credit, the salary range will be $66,000 to $144,000. For teachers with a master’s degree plus 45 more graduate hours the salary range will be $67,000 to $150,500. And the salary range for teachers with 60 graduate credit hours beyond a master’s degree will increase to $68,000 to $155,000.
Stipends for athletic coaches will increase by 4% next year compared with the 1% increase that was in the old contract. Stipends for coaches will increase by 3% in the 2025-26 school year and by 2% in the 2026-27 school year.
Stipends for club sponsors will also increase by 4% next year, up from the 2% that was in the old contract, and then increase by 3% in the 2025-26 school year and by 2% in the 2026-27 school year.
Salaries for paraprofessionals with a bachelor’s degree will increase by $3,600 next year, up from the previously agreed upon $2,800 or $3,000 depending upon inflation. In the 2025-26 and 2026-27 school years, paraprofessionals with just a bachelor’s degree will get raises of either $3,500 or $3,700, depending on whether the Consumer Price Index increases by more or less than 3.75 percent.
Paraprofessionals with a master’s degree will get a raise of $4,100 next year, up from $3,300 or $3,500, and raises of $4,000 or $4,200 in the 2025-26 and 2026-27 school years.
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