River Forest Teachers teeter on a strike vote – how much is explained by mismanagement

Teacher salary is the headline, but how much has mismanagement under diversity equity and inclusion (DEI) sullied staffing circumstances in River Forest district 90? 

River Forest district 90 board members listened to an hour of resident and teacher public comments regarding protracted contract negotiations during the September 16^th board meeting.  One teacher who left the district, a finalist for IL teacher of the year, wrote a letter saying:

“I earn more as a fifth-year teacher there than I did in district 90 with thirteen years of experience”.

The district recently banned administrators from reading public comments when commenters are unable to attend in person.

It didn’t surprise anyone. There were no commenters saying they do not support teachers, or that average salaries 2% above state average makes for quality schools and a thriving neighborhood. So, what is wrong that negotiations had already reached 161 days according to RFEA co-presidents?

E3 posits, the current impasse is a result of mismanagement by a previous board and weak administration, but you can decide.

Bloat

It is one of the smallest school districts in Cook County, but its problems sounds like those plaguing the biggest - Chicago Public Schools. River Forest district 90 has grown by 51 full time employees or 30% since 2016, topping out at 216 full time in 2024. These cost-raising staff increases came as student enrollment declined, a trend that seems to include students exiting in middle school.  It wasn’t lower birth rates or emigration, lower enrollment occurred as the local population spiked 10% to an estimated 12,220 in 2020.

More hires were not for more classrooms or differentiating instruction for more ability levels – these positions came with a new pedagogy, complete with ambiguous new names. With more staff additions than cuts, the balance sheet is stressed. According to district sources, there are too many people and too many poorly defined duties between decision-makers and academic results. From a resident perspective, the bloated structure has warped formerly straight lines of accountability.

District 90’s DEI

They called it diversity; however, the votes were always unanimous to punish students with unproven curricula and instruction.

They said it was equitable, but the district did not share with residents when the achievement gap doubled the state average.

Inclusive sounded nice, but it meant abandoning differentiated instruction and lumping students with disabilities and giftedness into the general classroom. 

This was “fundamental change in instructional philosophy” led by Chicago public union lobbyist and d90 board president Ralph Martire beginning around 2016. Adopting unproven curricula, block scheduling to suit the new student-led pedagogy, minimizing the grading scale, banning classic books in the middle school library while putting picture books and pornography into Elementary classrooms. The impact on learning would reduce covid and remote teaching to an academic speedbump.

Emily Hanford described the punishing effects of “balance literacy” in her podcast Sold a Story.  Meanwhile, River Forest was buying the whole library and math wasn’t immune to bad ideas.

This was “systems change” according to the administration, and the district remains tight-lipped on how it has impacted the number, role, and turnover of teachers and staff.

Reputation problems

The dollar cost of district 90 adopting DEI didn’t help, but it would be the reputational cost of “elevating social programs above curriculum and instruction” that would haunt the district, said a school consortium observer. If a teacher shortage does exist locally, then not being attractive with salary, school quality, or culture compounds the problem. Especially classroom teachers know there is nothing exemplary in how the state rates itself.

A formerly good culture began showing signs of rot soon after comprehensive changes. In a 2017 state survey, teachers slammed their leadership with metrics declining in all 19 measures. By 2023, fifteen measures remained below their 2017 level. Sources say the district had elicited hundreds or even thousands of applicants for an open position. Today it relies on a search firm to fill open positions.

The combination of over-staffing, while implementing pedagogy to “lower the ceiling” seems to have caught up with itself this contract cycle.

Behind the averages

The top district 90 wage earner is superintendent Ed Condon with base salary, annuity, and other benefits totaling $353,523 in 2025, more than 40% above the IL State average for his peers. The average teacher salary is $77,630, or 2% above the state average, according to the ISBE report card.

The histograms below come from data in the Illinois State Board of Education, Employment Information System (EIS).  Reporting dates are 2024 or 2025, the most recent report available for each district (see table above).  The histograms show the absolute value or number of all full-time staff in each of six salary categories ranging from below %50,000 to above $150,000.  The charts include all full-time staff, not just classroom teachers, and not by choice.

It is reasonable to assume those teachers with more favorable performance reviews, more seniority, and more contact time with students will earn more money. If so, it seems River Forest and Riverside districts have proportionately younger or lower-paid staff relative to comparator districts. 

Oak Park and Hinsdale appear to have more balanced salary structure, suggesting more senior, higher-paid staff leaving the payroll are being replaced with new lower-paid staff at similar rates.  Unfortunately, these dots are not easily connected.

For example, the Western Springs district 101 EIS filing describes roles like: Resource Teacher Foreign Language, Resource Teacher Reading, Special Education Teacher, District Superintendent, Chief School Business Official, or Teacher (assumed to be classroom teacher). From these descriptions one can imagine the nature and quantity of contact time with students.  Still, years of service are not reported. 

River Forest administrators leave the position category blank on their EIS filing, blurring the understanding of what roles taxpayer dollars are supporting, who is who in the chart above.  It begs the question of what roles are included in the ISBE average teacher salary of $77,630.

At minimum, average teacher salary is probably not the cause nor the immediate fix for the troubles in River Forest district 90. Time eventually will tell.

The next meeting with mediation will be on September 30^th.

It's E3, where equity still means fairness.

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