District Trivia Question and Answer:
Q: Aside from years of service and level of education, District 87 teachers were once paid different wages based on the grade level they taught and by their gender - with all secondary teachers always earning more than primary teachers and all male teachers always earning more than female teachers. When was the first salary schedule for District 87 teachers adopted that ended the practice of pay based on the two aforementioned criteria?

A:
a) 1909
b) 1927
c) 1945 At the April 6th Board of Education meeting.
d) 1962

Almost a year earlier, Miss [Dr.] Jessie Cline (Mathematics) and Miss Maude Leonard (M.A. English), representing the female staff at BHS, approached Supt. Paul Gossard and members of the Board to present the "matter of equal pay for the women members of the high school faculty. Miss Cline served as the spokesperson and mentioned several reasons why the women should receive as much salary as the men and closed by asking that their contracts, issued May 15, 1944, be rewritten to include an increase of $100.00 in salary plus the bonus of $50.00 allowed to all high school teachers for the year 1944-1945."

A short time later, the women received a letter from the Board of Education explaining the main reason why they did not support the proposal…

"We promised the committee of representatives from the women members of the high school faculty who met with us on Thursday evening, June 8, that we would take your petition for an increase of $100 in salary under advisement. While we are all desirous to cooperate with you in every possible manner, we feel that the action which was taken at the recent board meeting relative to pay of men teachers was necessary under present day conditions to keep and replace men teachers in our system."

The letter contained the following reminder...

"We feel that it is only fair to call your attention to the Illinois School Law, section 127a, concerning the return of your signed contract which constitutes a written acceptance. Be sure to keep in mind the fact that the agreement expires within thirty days from May 15, 1944."

The teachers responded by thanking the Board for their consideration and stated that they "would resume their duties in September, still hoping that before contracts are issued for another year, an equitable adjustment in salaries will be made."

Their persistance paid off just a year later, when the Board, now serving under the direction of Supt. George Wells, voted unanimously to accept the following principles and salary schedule:

Principles:

1. Since education is closely related to other governmental functions the personnel problems of a public school system have much in common with those which prevail in public service generally.

2. The most important considerations are those involving the attraction of competent individuals into teaching, the retention of these persons in the service, and the maintenance of an alert and growing staff.

3. The construction of teacher's salary schedules and the formulation of salary policies should be undertaken jointly by classroom teachers, school administrators, school board members and interested laymen.

4. The basic salary classification of teachers in public school systems should be determined by professional and academic qualifications regardless of the grade level of the pupils taught.

5. Teachers of equivalent preparation, experience and teaching load should receive equal pay regardless of sex.

6. The relationship of professional and academic qualifications to the location of teachers on the salary scale should be clearly stated in the rules and regulations governing the operation of the schedule and regular appraisal should be made of individual teacher qualifications.

7. Provisions should be made in a salary schedule for definitely announced salary increases to be awarded regulary at fixed intervals of time until a given maximum salary is reached.

8. Teachers' salaries should be based in part on the cost of maintaining an appropriate standard of living

The salary schedule also made references to the Appointment of Teachers, Tenure and Professional Growth of Teachers and Administration of schedule - including the payment for extra duty assignments, which ranged from $150 to $500 per year.

	Teacher salary schedule, 1945-1946
ffgffgnbgfgfgfgf	Training in semester Hours above High School

Experience	2	3	B.S.	M.S
0	$1,300	$1,400	$1,550	$1,750
1	$1,350	$1,450	$1,625	$1,825
2	$1,400	$1,500	$1,700	$1,900
3	$1,450	$1,550	$1,775	$1,975
4	$1,500	$1,600	$1,850	$2,050
5	$1,550	$1,650	$1,925	$2,125
6	$1,600	$1,700	$2,000	$2,200
7	$1,650	$1,750	$2,075	$2,275
8	$1,700	$1,800	$2,150	$2,350
9	$1,750	$1,850	$2,225	$2,425
10	$1,800	$1,900	$2,300	$2,500
11			$2,350	$2,550