Orland 135 teachers OK contract

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Updated: February 10, 2012 8:37AM

Teachers in Orland School District 135 have voted overwhelmingly to ratify a new contract with the district.

Teachers voted 285 to 23 to approve the pact, but details of the agreement won’t be released until it is approved by the district’s school board at a meeting Monday, according to Deneen Pajeau with the Illinois Federation of Teachers.

Both sides announced Dec. 22 they’d reached a tentative contract following a 21-hour negotiating session.

The teachers’ previous contract expired at the end of the last school year, and educators had continued to work under the terms of that contract. In late fall, a federal mediator was brought in to assist with talks.

The bargaining session that produced the tentative deal was preceeded by a rally outside District 135 headquarters that drew some 200 parents, students and teachers. Some parents expressed concern that teachers might opt to strike if an agreement wasn’t reached soon.

Financial terms and other details of the agreement are expected to be disclosed Monday night when the District 135 board votes to approve it.

When the tentative contract was announced, two school board members who’d served on the board’s negotiating team — Mary Bragg and Tom Cunningham — said in a statement that it “honors the quality of education” the district’s teachers provide while “also being fiscally responsible” to district taxpayers.