Education

Glen Nelson, vice president of finance and planning at Illinois State University, said the union and ISU continue to have three sticking points concerning back pay and future salary raises. ISU has said it has already offered the union its best and final deal.

Illinois State University officials on Friday acknowledged using external companies to perform custodial and grounds work on campus during the AFSCME strike, a claim that the union contends in a lawsuit is a violation of state law. ISU officials maintain they are in compliance with hiring and procurement laws.

McLean County prosecutors said Friday that a 43-year-old Unit 5 junior high school teacher made sexually suggestive remarks to a 13-year-old girl last year. He faces charges of grooming.

After more than two weeks on the picket line, tenured and tenure-track faculty at the University of Illinois Springfield have a deal to return to work. Faculty will be back in the classroom Monday.

A nonprofit group of educators is looking to address the statewide teacher shortage by recruiting more candidates from other career paths.

The Boys & Girls Club of Bloomington-Normal has purchased the old Trinity Lutheran Church and elementary school in the South Hill Neighborhood of Bloomington, and is scrapping plans for a new clubhouse near its current home in west Bloomington.

Some parents of Chiddix Junior High students want school administrators to share more information about two teachers who have been removed from the classroom.

ISU President Aondover Tarhule on Friday took a practical stance as litigation continues over a lot of federal mandates. "Our first and most important responsibility is to our students,” said Tarhule.

Illinois State University's board of trustees on Friday approved a 5% tuition increase for new students arriving on campus this fall, with Chief Financial Officer Glen Nelson saying planners tried to minimize the impact of cost increases on those students.

It will cost most incoming Illinois State University undergraduate students about $1,143 more next school year, according to recommendations the administration has made to the Board of Trustees.