The Board of Education of the Elwood UFSD is pleased to announce that the district’s custodial and maintenance employees, represented by the United Public Service Employees Union, have agreed to a contractual concession that will reduce their increase in pay by half next year.

The Board thanks these hardworking men and women - a number of whom are residents of the district - for pitching in to help the district, given our extraordinarily difficult financial circumstances. We believe we must do all we can to preserve the programs and staffing that our community wants for Elwood’s students.

For the 2011-12 school year, the custodial and maintenance staff will receive an increase of 1.625%, followed by two additional contractual years that will not increase salaries above 2% in each year and may be lower, depending upon implementation of a state tax cap. It will save the district money in 2011-12, and solidifies a fair and reasonable labor agreement for the subsequent two years that is tied to evolving economic conditions.

It should also be noted that this agreement represents the entirety of the increase in compensation.