Mahomet-Seymour board meeting at standing room only as union seeks “fair” contract

More than the board room was packed during Monday’s regular meeting of the Mahomet-Seymour School Board.

With teachers and community members sitting in seats and on the floor with the seven board members of the Mahomet-Seymour School Board, the surrounding hallway and playground was filled with about 150 more community members and staff members. Last week, the Mahomet-Seymour Education Association announced they would line Churchill Rd. leading up to Middletown Prairie Elementary a half hour before the 6:30 p.m. budget hearing began.

The board of education, led by Max McComb, made no effort to move the meeting to another space within Middletown Prairie to accommodate the known crowd. According to a Citizen’s Advocacy Guide to the Open Meetings Act, “if the public body is aware that a meeting has significant public interest and suspects that the usual space is too small to accommodate the public who attend, the public body must find an alternative location. If an alternative venue is available and the public body refuses to change location, a violation of the (Open Meetings) Act has occurred based on the public’s inability to attend the meeting.” (Gerwin v. Livingston County Board, 802 N.E.2d 410 (Ill. App. Ct. 4th Dist., 2003)). 

Spectators said they asked for the meeting to be moved to a larger space, but the meeting stayed in its regular space because Bulldog TV was streaming the meeting via YouTube. One speaker brought this up during public comment, reminding the board that Bulldog TV does stream games and workshops throughout the district. 

Several current and former staff, along with long-time community members spoke during public comment, supporting the union’s call for a fair wage and working conditions. The union is not only calling for a wage increase that will keep teachers in the Mahomet-Seymour School District, but also manageable classroom sizes and plan time, among other issues. 

During the budget hearing public comment, second grade teacher and MSEA co-president Meg Jones said that the district needs to prioritize how it allocates its funds. 

“Budgets seem mundane,” Jones said. “They seem like just a dry set of figures that can be hard to wade through. But they’re more than that. Budgets are moral documents that reflect our values and our priorities. When we reference market forces in our budget decision making, we are looking to see what others spend and work to be competitive. On that count, this district is starting to pay a price for not putting more money on staff salaries. We are not competitive enough to keep folks here and recruit new folks.”

Co-president and fifth grade teacher James Heinold echoed Jones’ call.

“We believe in this community,” Heinold said. “We are dedicated and that dedication should be met with respect. Good working conditions and fair compensation is a measure of respect. And that’s what we are seeking in the current negotiations.”

In a district that has been known to attract and retain teachers, since 2017 educators, bus drivers, lunchroom staff and custodians are frequently leaving their posts for opportunities outside the Mahomet-Seymour School District. 

“We are losing high quality educators and support staff to other districts,” Heinold said. We have unfilled positions, and all buildings, something that did not exist a decade ago.”

All board members showed some words of solidarity with the union, even saying that the staff deserves the percent-increase the union seeks. Still, McComb stood with the narrative that the district cannot afford to meet the union on the terms they seek. 

The two entities met over the summer months nearly 20 times, seeking a resolution to a four-year contract. The union voted to authorize a strike early last week. The two parties will come together later Tuesday afternoon to try and come to an agreement. 

“The MSEA is looking forward to bargaining tomorrow and hopeful we’ll reach an agreement,” MSEA spokesperson Cameron Zindars said in an email interview. 

“The problem is that appreciation, respect and admiration are not guaranteeing us to pay bills,” McComb said in his address to the crowd. “So what I want you to understand is we have some harsh realities that we have to deal with.”

Statistics provided by the MSEA and the ones McComb claimed during his time talking are nuanced and have not been fact-checked. While the MSEA has cited salary differences between Mahomet-Seymour and other desirable districts throughout Illinois, McComb said that those same districts receive more funding per student than Mahomet-Seymour. 

According to McComb, the MSEA and the negotiations team, including McComb, Sunny McMurry and Ken Keefe, have “reached verbal agreements on all outstanding issues except the financial piece.”

As some members of the union walked out of the room, McComb continued. 

“What the board has offered, none of us think its enough, but it’s the largest increase in almost two decades. It addresses the MSEA concern about inequities on the salary schedule that have evolved over the years.”

McComb also believes that the offer addresses the starting salary rate.

“The money on the table represents what the district has to work with,” McComb continued. “The MSEA would like you to be higher. I get that. I’ve already said, I would, too. “we’ve already said that we’ve committed to a point where it might be difficult to add positions as we continue to grow. 

“Given the unstable financial status of the state, we feel if going any higher a slight issue of state funding can result in staff and programming cuts.”

McMurry talked about the work stoppage that occurred for three days in 2010 when the MSEA negotiated contract terms after the school year had begun. She said that the district had to cut positions as the district funds dwindled away because of state funding issues over upcoming years. 

With enrollment already busting through projections established by two recent studies, McMurry said that as more students come into the district, class size will continue to be a topic at the forefront of discussion, especially at the elementary levels. The negotiation team, which McMurry is part of, would like to keep funds available for needed positions in future years.

Board member Meghan Hennesy, who has advocated for prioritizing budget dollars since elected in 2019, said that decisions that were made in a vacuum in recent years have also helped strap the district’s revenue. 

“We have given away land worth hundreds of thousands of dollars,” she said. “That impacts us. 

“We can’t make those decisions in silos and expect that not to come back. 

Hennesy was referencing the board’s decision to give 13 Acres Park and Middletown Park to the Village of Mahomet in exchange for a promise to build tennis courts. At the time, Hennesy wanted to see bids for the property or for the district to hold onto the property until they knew what the community wanted in terms of a referendum. 

Another reference in Hennesy’s speech included the decision to extend the East Mahomet TIF district, which was set to expire in 2024. At that time, the district would have seen 100-percent of the commercial property tax instead of the 50-percent they will receive until 2036. 

“These decisions that we make all impact our ability to move forward together and to make the decisions that are required to make the collective move forward,” she said. 

Hennesy has yet to be brought to the table to participate in negotiations as has board members Colleen Schultz, Jeremy Henrichs and Justin Lamb. Lamb is unlikely to vote with the board on the finalized contract as his wife works in the district.

Schultz added that she does not believe the board, district, union or community should operate in terms of “sides” during this time. 

“We’re all in it for one thing,” Schultz said, “to make a great school district to support our kids. “It breaks my heart to see months and months go by where there’s not a coming together, when you’re all on the same team. 

“And I hope that, as Megan said, that the board can become involved in these negotiations so that we can come together and trying to solve these problems. 

Schultz said that the problems of keeping and attracting staff is not a teacher issue or a district issue, it’s a community issue. 

“That’s all of us,” she said.