PARENTS PUSH FOR STRIKE SETTLEMENT

CAIRO, Ill. -- Enough's enough...it is time to settle the strike.

That is the message parents of students in the Cairo Public School District are sending to school officials and teachers.

"We don't care what it takes," Rochelle Hollis said. "Students have missed 20 days of school over the past month. We need help."

The parents suggest teachers and school board members sit down and negotiate until a settlement is reached.

Parents have held two meetings in the past week.

"That is as many meetings as the teachers and school board members have had since this thing started," said Hollis, whose children are Cairo students.

"It's time for teachers and board members to sit down and thrash this thing out," agreed Brenda Gooden. "My daughter is a teacher and I have four grandchildren in the school district. They're all ready for this thing to end."

"The strike has lingered far too long," said David D. McNeely. "While the teachers and school board members jockey for support from the community, the children sit idly by waiting for classroom doors to re-open."

McNeely suggested parents get more involved in the strike.

"Write your congressman, state representatives, regional superintendent, CAT president, school superintendent and the school board president," he said.

"That's exactly what the parents are doing," said Mable Hollis, a spokeswoman for parents who have had two meetings and will hold a third session Sunday.

The Sunday meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at the 19th Street Baptist Church.

"We want all the parents to get involved," Mable Hollis said. "If they can't settle this strike, maybe the parents can help. The interest is not where it ought to be -- on the students."

The parents have initiated a massive postcard campaign. Some 2,000 postcards have been printed.

"We're sending cards to a lot of people," said Gooden, who is in charge of the project. "The message is simple. We're asking for help to get the teachers and school board together."

The cards will be sent to Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar, local state and federal legislators, school administrators, school board members and others.

Gooden was hopeful action would be taken before the cards were mailed.

It didn't happen.

Ron Newell, president of the Cairo Association of Teachers, Wednesday requested a negotiating session with the school board. Superintendent Elaine Bonifield said the board's negotiator was out of town, and she could not give an immediate answer to Newell's latest request.

"The federal mediator will contact the CAT about a meeting," she said.

As of 4 p.m. Friday, Newell said he was waiting for a response.

"We'll meet any time at the board's convenience," Newell said.

The Cairo teachers walked out Nov. 17.

Board members and teacher representatives met twice during the past month, and both sides agreed to binding arbitration. Their attorneys are working out the ground rules, but as yet, no ground rules have been accepted.

Seventy-three teachers are on strike. The CAT has asked for a 6 percent increase plus "steps," additional increases of up to 2 percent based on a teacher's education and experience.

The school board has said 4 percent is all it can afford.

After the board accepted arbitration, teachers agreed, but with some stipulations, one that the district agree not to lay off teachers for two years.

Bonifield said the board could not agree to that stipulation, because financial conditions would worsen.

The strike has kept 1,048 elementary and high school students from class for 20 school days.

Not that many students may be back, Gooden said. Some parents and students are looking to other districts, but that can be costly, up to $2,000 to transfer for a semester.

Officials at Meridian High School, north of Mounds, and Egyptian High School, near Tamms, said they have had questions concerning transfers.

A parent has also talked with Ballard Memorial School in nearby Western Kentucky.

In one case, parents have looked at renting homes in Mounds or Mound City and at Wickliffe, Ky., so their children can attend another school.

"This (strike) is hard on the students," Mable Hollis said. "Some of the students just can't understand why the two adult groups can't sit down and settle their differences."

Hollis said she was hearing two different stories.

"The teachers say they are ready to meet, the board says the teachers are not ready to meet," she said. "If they don't start talking they'll never accomplish anything."

The parent meetings are not held to "badger board members or teachers," Hollis said. "We just want them to get together and get our children back in school."