The Crystal Lake School District 47 (D47) Board of Education recently approved the reduction and elimination of staffing positions for the 2025-26 school year. These include elementary and middle school building permanent substitute teachers, elementary band directors and elementary extended curriculum teachers. The news comes amidst an investigation by the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board (IELRB) into an unfair labor practice (ULP) against D47, which spent close to $2 million to illegally hire a staffing agency in an attempt to fill open positions. The ULP details how D47 administrators violated the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act (IELRA) and illegally retained a recruiting firm to hire temporary educators. A grievance related to the same issue is now headed to federal arbitration. The union learned district administrators retained four staffing agencies to fill open positions. The agencies’ current temporary employees were retained in June and July. Utilizing these firms is a direct violation of the current CLETA contract and the Illinois School Code. The four staffing agencies are being paid more than $1.8 million for 13 positions. District 47 is paying as much as $276,000 per temporary position, which means the district is paying up to four times more than the CLETA average salary, which is $65,000, for doing the same work. All of this comes after the district faced similar charges from the Crystal Lake Association of Support Staff (CLASS). CLASS represents education support staff who work in District 47. CLASS filed a ULP against District 47 in the fall of 2023. In May, the IELRB announced a settlement. CLASS employees were all given immediate raises, a second raise before the start of the school year, a $2,000 payment and additional paid time off as a result of the settlement. There are 670 educators in the CLETA bargaining unit serving the more than 7,000 students who attend District 47 schools. The ULP hearing date is set for March 19.