Tentative Agreement Reached for Champaign School District Support Staff

The Champaign School District reached a tentative contract agreement with its support staff union Monday night.

Negotiators for Unit Four and the Champaign Educational Services Personnel union had been meeting since March - including a session with a federal mediator in June. But when scheduling problems prevented any meetings with the mediator in July, the two sides resumed contract talks on their own. Tomlinson says both Unit Four and the union were committed to reaching a settlement.

"Well I think everybody realized the importance of getting a good contract before school started", say Tomlinson. "And our balanced calendar schools start (their classes) next week. And the union and district came together and worked very hard to get the best contract for everybody involved."

Tomlinson would not release details of the tentative agreement, pending ratification votes by both sides. He expects members of the support staff union to ratify the contract in the next couple of weeks, with a school board vote on Monday, August 9th. The old contract for about 500 teachers' aides, bus drivers and other workers at Unit Four ran out June 30th.