After six months of negotiating, the Community Consolidated School District 181 School Board and Hinsdale Clarendon Hills Teachers Association have reached a deal.

The board approved the 2008-2011 contract Wednesday afternoon during a quick special meeting. Five board members were in attendance and unanimously approved the contract.

“We think the contract is fair,” Board President Lisa Armonda said after the meeting. “We are happy to start putting this behind us and moving forward on some of our other district issues.”

Associate Superintendent Mary Ticknor said they are in the process of compiling the new contract into a document and once they go through it they will submit it to the teachers before a finalized document is signed by both parties.

The contract includes a 2.2 percent base salary increase each year and improvements to current contract provisions regarding professional responsibility and the school day.

“We're happy with the outcome in the same way the board is, and we're ready to move forward and focus on teaching and doing good stuff in the classroom,” said association President Judy Tiggelaar.

Hinsdale Middle School parent Stephen Woodward, who openly supported the board throughout negotiations, said as this all comes down to their children’s education, they should review what they’ve learned through this process.

"The taxpayers of District 181 owe a debt of gratitude to our board of education for its stewardship of our money, which, in this case, required the board to remain defiant during a difficult and long process,” Woodward said. “We've learned that fiscal sanity and integrity always matter in this community, and that these principals never will be compromised."

The way the contract currently reads, teachers eligible to retire in 2011 and 2012 should have given notice by March 1 but they did not know how retirement would be changed under the new contract. The board is going to discuss this at its upcoming meeting Tuesday, Oct. 14. Members hope to change the deadline from March 1 to Nov. 3, Armonda said.

Highlights of the negotiated contract include:
- Three-year duration
- Increase to the base salary of 2.2 percent each year of the contract
- Phase out of BA+45 lane of the salary schedule
- Teachers will continue to pay a portion of the premiums for single and family health care insurance coverage.
- Domestic partner coverage added to health care options.
- A revision of the retirement incentive program
- Increased new teacher orientation, and improvements to current contract provisions concerning professional responsibility and the school day
- Improvements to the administration of special education programs, as well as provisions addressing interventions for student success.