Bourbonnais elementary school teachers go on strike

BOURBONNAIS, Ill. (WLS) -- Elementary school teachers in Bourbonnais in Kankakee County are going on strike.

Elementary School District 53 and the union have been negotiating over a new contract since last March.

Both sides met Wednesday night, but did not reach an agreement on pay raises.

Lauren Lundmark, president of the Bourbonnais Education Association union representing the teachers, said, "We did everything we could to prevent this from happening. We would much rather be in our classrooms with our students, but instead we are fighting for them out on the picket line. We are teachers. We have done the math. The district has at least $10 million in reserves. We know they have the funding to maintain our insurance and retirement benefits while also providing competitive percentage raises to our staff across the board. This is about investing in our students and our community, so we can continue to provide our students a high quality education for years to come."

Teachers say they will be on the picket line starting at 8 a.m. The BEA about 167 teachers who serve more than 2,400 students.