Board approves staffing report after teachers union urges preservation of staff and electives

The CHSD 128 Board of Education on March 17 approved the districtcertified staffing report for 202526ndash;26, which the administration said reflects a total full-time-equivalent (FTE) net increase of 2.4 and includes a standard contingency allocation for late enrollment changes.

Why it matters: The report determines how many teachers and specialist positions the district will staff next year and shapes which elective courses and programs will run. The teachers union said small increases now could preserve teachers and programs that would be costly or slow to rebuild if cut now.

Paul Karnstead, vice president of the teachers union, told the board that the unionsupports targeted staffing adjustments to retain staff and electives. "We believe first in the talent of our staff. We believe our teachers are an important piece of our districts overall, educational success," Karnstead said, and urged the board to back modest additional staffing to avoid losing teachers and classes.

District staff described the staffing process to the board and said the district worked with department chairs and building leaders after students made course selections in January and February. A district presenter summarized the request to the board: "We're asking for the board to approve this sectioning report, which includes a FTE, total FTE change of 2.4." The presenter also said the district builds an annual contingency to respond to late enrollment or schedule changes and noted the contingency has been only partially used in recent years.

Board and staff offered examples of how contingency staffing is used. Dr. Tom Gulentes described a scenario from this year: "A good example from this year was we had a large number of students sign up for government for summer school. . . . If a large number of them were to withdraw . . . that could see a group of 20 to 25 students reentering this, the need for government in the fall or the spring." The point was to illustrate how summer and late changes can create unanticipated demand.

Several union concerns that the board and administration acknowledged focused on low-enrollment electives and teacher retention. The union highlighted German 1 at Vernon Hills as an example where low requests could lead the district to not run the class; the union said those decisions can become "program killers" and asked the board to prioritize retaining unique electives while enrollment is low. The union estimated the additional staffing it requested amounted to "less than 2 FTE" and called that "less than 1%" of the district total FTE.

Don Carmichael, a board member, praised the cooperative process between the union and administration: "I'd like to acknowledge the participation of the union in the process this year. I think that the MOA was appropriate, and I just thought it was nice that the reports that we were getting is that we were really working together, and I wanna thank you for that." Several board members echoed appreciation for the memorandum of understanding and the collaborative meetings the district held with union representatives.

The board voted to approve the annual certified staffing report as presented. The staffing package includes the 2.4 net FTE change, an administrative contingency to address late enrollment or scheduling changes, and implementation steps the district will use to monitor sectioning through the spring and summer.

The board and union asked administrators to continue monitoring elective demand and to bring data-backed recommendations to the board if circumstances change before the start of school.

Details: The district reported an average class size of 22.6 (2024 Illinois report card) compared with the state average of 20.8; union leaders cited that figure while urging targeted support for electives and staff. The union said the incremental staffing it requested cost far less than recent single-year contract approvals and was intended as a long-term investment in program continuity.

The staffing vote followed months of meetings and a year-to-year sectioning cycle the district described as beginning in November and crystallizing after student course selections in January and February. The board approved related employment recommendations later in the meeting, including tenure recommendations and first-, second- and third-year teacher appointments.

Next steps: The administration will use its contingency authority to make summer adjustments if enrollments change; the board asked to be informed of any material staffing shifts before the school year begins.