By: Stephanie Prokop
CHESTERFIELD A tentative contract agreement has been reached with the district’s 30 Elementary School teachers after a negotiation session that lasted until 5 a.m. Feb. 21, according to Gayle Poedubicky, president of the Chesterfield Teachers Association.
She said the next step would involve both sides ratifying the contract.
The school board expects to vote on ratifying the tentative agreement sometime this week, board President Craig Thier said Monday.
The issue was not discussed at Tuesday night’s school board meeting, however, said Mr. Thier Wednesday.
The teacher’s association has been working under the old contract since June.
"I think having the fact-finder there was is what really prodded things along," Ms. Poedubicky said.
The state-appointed fact-finder has been working with the school district and teachers association since late October.
The fact-finder’s responsibilities included going out into neighboring school districts and collecting information on teachers contracts, and presenting the information to the Chesterfield Board of Education. Parents and teachers were encouraged to come to the meeting and were urged to ask questions of the board to expedite the negotiations.
Neither side would discuss the details of the contract.
Parent Donna Zalepa, who attended the meeting, said the meeting was "very long and emotional." The Chesterfield Township Education Association notified the district at the beginning of the month that teachers were going to invoke their legal right to take off for Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, Feb. 12, a day the district had not originally planned to take as a holiday.
The Board of Education also met with parents and community members on the night of Feb. 12 as it looked to explore more options for growing school enrollment.
The board laid out scenarios that it is investigating to take care of growing enrollment temporarily.
A referendum on a second elementary school is expected to be held in December. Two previous referenda for a second school failed in 2003 and 2005.
The township could continue to acquire toilet-equipped trailers, it could lease classroom and office space from local districts, or it could pay tuition to other schools.

