ARBITRATION STILL BEING DISCUSSED AT CAIRO

CAIRO, Ill. -- Striking Cairo teachers and school officials are talking about binding arbitration, but no agreements have been adopted.

"We were hoping that we could sit down with the school board and hash this thing out," Ron Newell, president of the Cairo Association of Teachers, said Tuesday. "But we have turned things over to our attorney concerning arbitration."

Following a lengthy board meeting last week, the Cairo School District Board of Education agreed to offer binding arbitration as a way to end the strike.

"Our attorney prepared a document of arbitration," said superintendent, Dr. Elaine Bonifield. "The documents has been forwarded to the teachers group; we're waiting for an answer."

"We haven't agreed to binding arbitration," said Newell. "But we are exploring the idea. We haven't rejected it. Our attorney is in the process of preparing a response."

If both sides agree to arbitration, teachers will return to work and the arbitration process will start.

The strike by the district's 73 teachers started Nov. 17, and has kept 1,048 elementary and high-school students out of school. With the strike at 12 days, students will have to make up four; eight emergency days are built into the school calendar.

"The two sides, through their attorneys, have to agree on some arbitration ground rules," said Newell. "Once an agreement is reached by the attorneys, the association and board of education still have to ratify it."

The teachers have asked for a 6 percent pay increase plus steps -- additional money for more-experienced teachers. They are also requesting that many extracurricular activities curtailed last year be resumed.

Football and basketball were among extracurricular activities halted following those seasons last year, but both have been reinstated. However, a total of six basketball games have been canceled. Illinois state regulations say a school must be in school the day before a game.

The school board maintains that the district can't afford the requested raises and has offered the teachers a 4 percent increase. Cairo teachers, it was explained earlier, averaged about $32,000 a year.

Using the average salary, the proposed 4 percent increase by the board would cost the district about $93,400. At 6 percent the cost would be about $140,160 plus the costs of the steps, which could run another 2 percent, say school officials.