River Forest SD 90 community urges board to resolve contract, boost teacher pay

Community members, parents and District 90 teachers urged the River Forest School District 90 Board of Education at the Oct. 7 Committee of the Whole meeting to reach a negotiated contract and increase teacher pay.

Lauren Ortiz and Cindy Crannell, identified as co-presidents of the RFEA, opened public comment by calling attention to the lack of a negotiated contract at the start of the school year and noting that "all three schools obtained exemplary designations." Several teachers described the financial pressure of working in the district: Lincoln teacher Tristan Rogers told the board he had to sell his car to make ends meet and criticized administrator salaries as inflated. Lincoln teacher Marta Kozbur said the mutual respect that once existed between teachers and administrators has been lost, and others warned that staff departures will follow if no agreement is reached.

Parents and teacher aides joined the call for higher pay. Lucy Economos, a teacher aide and former student, said aides are "in full support of the teachers" and pointed to a widening wage gap. Multiple parents said they moved to River Forest for the schools and urged the board to invest in retaining high-quality educators.

The meeting included roughly 160 in-person participants and 33 attendees on Zoom for public comment. The board took the agenda up after public comment and later moved into closed session to discuss personnel and negotiations; the board approved a personnel report after returning to open session.