PEORIA, Ill. — Peoria Public Schools Board of Education was greeted by a silent protest at Monday night’s school board meeting.
Teachers lined the back row of the auditorium displaying signs that said, “Working Without a Contract.”
Teachers are frustrated about the status of ongoing negotiations between their union and the school board’s bargaining team. Teachers say class sizes are too large and student behavior is out of control.
“We need help. Our teachers don’t feel safe,” Caitlin Hale, a music teacher at Maude A. Sanders Primary School, told 25 News.
She added, “Whether it be they’re own personal safety or the safety of their classrooms, how do our students feel if teachers don’t feel safe?”
Contract talks have hit a snag with a federal mediator trying to broker an agreement.
