A majority of assistant teachers and library assistants at Francis W. Parker School announced their intention to unionize this week.
Eighty percent of the 30 assistant teachers and library assistants on staff filed paperwork expressing their intent to form a union with the Illinois Federation of Teachers, according to Lucy Wainger, an assistant teacher in a fifth grade classroom at Parker. The Lincoln Park-based school recognized the effort on Thursday.
The school administration was notified with the hope that there would be a voluntary recognition of the union effort in order to proceed to collective bargaining, said Amy Excell, a spokesperson for the Illinois Federation of Teachers.
Nicole Tetreault, an assistant teacher in senior kindergarten, said a smaller group began working on this effort about six months ago before going public this week.
“We’re super excited that the school recognized our union willingly, and we’re super excited to work with everybody and talk about ways that we can make this the best for our students and make sure that the conditions are great for the rest of the assistant teachers and library assistants,” Tetreault said.
Daniel Frank, principal of Francis Parker, said in an email to the Tribune on Thursday, “Francis W. Parker School has enjoyed a good working relationship with the Illinois Federation of Teachers Union for the past 45 years and we have agreed with the Union to take steps towards voluntarily recognizing the IFT for our assistant teachers. We look forward to our ongoing collegial relationship with this group of educators.”
The faculty at Parker, about 110 teachers, has had longstanding union representation with the Illinois Federation of Teachers, and Wainger said assistant teachers and library assistants at the school decided to organize to “allow our voices to be heard as well.” Wainger added that those in the assistant union are “looking forward to serving as a sister union to the faculty association.”
“They’ve been really wonderful and supportive of our efforts, so we see ourselves as very much existing alongside them,” Wainger said.
As for the next steps, Tetreault said the hope is to soon have “open, honest, collaborative and positive dialog with the school” about the needs of assistant teachers and library assistants and how those needs can be met.
Some topics to be discussed at the bargaining table include better compensation and benefits and having “clearer, more explicit guidelines around our specific job responsibilities,” Wainger said.
“It’s really just all of the things that make it possible for us to fully show up each day for our kids,” Wainger said. “We love these jobs, and we want to keep the, and we want them to be sustainable. We want to be able to be our best selves as we are coming to work every day.”
