By Clay LePard
clepard@cbs4qc.com
Dixon students are back in class. After almost 2 weeks of negotiations the Dixon Education Association and the Board of Education finally reached an agreement around 1:40AM Wednesday.
CBS 4 was there when another long night of negotiations came to an end, but this time the two sides reached an agreement.
"My biggest thing is I'm just excited that the kids are going to be in school tomorrow and the teachers with them," said Dixon Board of Education President Tom Balser.
This decision comes after the teachers walked out on discussions on Monday, saying they were stonewalled.
The teachers returned to the bargaining table at 6:00 p.m. Tuesday night; and almost eight hours later, the two sides finally had a resolution.
The Dixon teachers have been on strike since the end of February, the two sides trying to agree on issues like salary, health insurance, and class sizes.
School leaders say it's also a good thing kids will be back in school because the ISAT deadline is approaching. The school district has until March 22nd to get the testing done in order to comply with the Illinois State Board of Education.
After nine days out of class both sides are happy to announce kids will be back in school today and testing by the end of the week.
"We feel very blessed to have reached this agreement and hopefully we'll move on from this point and we can start to heal the community," said D.E.A. President Sandra Sodergren-Baar.
While the strike is over, both sides need to ratify the contract for it to be a done deal. The D.E.A. plans to ratify the agreement on Monday March 18th, and the Board of Education will give its final approval at their meeting on March 20th.
All across Dixon, parents say they're relieved to see their kids back in school for the first time since the end of February.
"Oh it's wonderful," says Loralei Emry, parent. "We needed to get back to structure"
"I said we're going back to school and they said ‘lets go,'" exclaims Ann Nordan, parent. "I was like we got to get dressed first."
"I was very excited," says Ashley Luy, parent. "It was very frustrating and all the agony and stress stuff like that. The kids never knew if they were going back or they were staying home or if they were learning today or learning tomorrow."
It was all smiles at schools throughout the community as kids made their way to class. And while they might not see there children as much now that the strike is over, parents say it's all worth it to see their kids back to learning.
"I love my children but they need to be in school," says Jessica Baker, parent. "My daughter asked me everyday ‘is the strike over, is the strike over, is the strike over?' She loves school and wants to be here"
After weeks of picketing, teachers say they're just happy to be back with their students.
"It means the world to me," says Christine Jasper, a first grade teacher at Washington School. Wednesday is also Christine's birthday.
"I feel like it's the best birthday present I could have received," she says.
When Christine found out the good news at 2 a.m., she says she was too excited to go back to sleep.
"It was a restless night but in a good way," she explains. "First thing going through my mind was couldn't wait to see my students and what are we going to do this morning?"
And when she got to work, it got even better when she saw her students.
"As soon as I saw them, they were just elated," she says. "They missed me, they missed the school, and some even hugged their desks. It was very wonderful to see that."
Going forward, Christine says she hopes this never happens again.
"It was a horrible struggle, internally, for the community, the students, the parents, the staff, everyone involved," she says. "Hopefully, we've all learned from it, we can move on from here and make the rest of the school year better than any of the students or staff could have imagined."
