The high school teachers’ strike at the beginning of the 2012/13 year was unprecedented at LFHS. The teachers’ union carries on the battle.

Remember the strike? The school board offered 9.7 percent over three years, well over the rate of inflation. The Lake Forest Education Association demanded 18.8 percent. After a teachers strike that nearly derailed Homecoming Weekend, the LFEA agreed to the deal they could have had the previous summer.

Fast forward 16 months: On February 11th we learned that the LFEA will block “block scheduling” even though their own members want it. This is perfectly understandable when viewed from the perspective of union leadership. They are now mid-contract. Their show of force during the last negotiation was undermined by their unreasonable demands. They want to re-establish their arbitrary power before they go into the next negotiation.

In recent months, a significant effort was made to change the school day format from eight 50-minute periods to a format characterized by varying blocks of time as Deerfield, Highland Park, Glenbrook North and Glenbrook South high schools have done.

There was much interest. Everyone wanted this, including faculty, staff, students and parents. Initially, 20 alternatives were identified. That was pared down to four and then to one. However, because this affects the teachers’ work day, which is governed by the teachers’ contract, the union’s Bargaining Committee had to approve it.

The LFEA Bargaining Committee informally polled its members and determined that a majority would accept the new plan. If the Committee conducted a formal vote, the plan that all stakeholders had collaboratively chosen would have become a reality for the 2014/15 school year.

The Committee also determined that a larger majority of union members preferred a different plan, one that had been rejected because it did not meet the goals of block scheduling and because of implementation problems. So, to impose the will of the teachers’ union on the other stakeholders, the Bargaining Committee changed their internal voting rules, requiring two-thirds instead of a simple majority of union members for approval.

Then the Committee announced that there were just not enough votes for passage of the new plan and would not submit the matter to a formal vote. The Committee added that one of the rejected plans could be submitted for such a vote.

In other words, if the teachers’ union does not get exactly what they want, then no one gets anything.

This naked power-grab anticipates teacher evaluations and curriculum matters that require collaboration with LFHS administration in the near future, and their employment contract that extends only until July 1, 2016.

Most LFHS teachers know they are not victims of 19th Century robber-barons; they are 21st Century benefactors of secure government service. And most taxpayers of District 115 are happy to pay the wage that preserves LFHS standards.

It is essential that the good LFHS teachers take control of their union and establish a Bargaining Committee with a more cooperative posture. The only reason we will not have block scheduling next year is the arbitrary flexing of the LFEA leadership.