By: Diane Benjamin
The School Board and Administration aren’t talking. Mark has too much class. Received by FOIA – from one of his students. I’ve got LOTS more, including a cover sheet where the FOIA officer misspelled Marc’s last name in numerous places. If you aren’t disgusted after reading, what does it take? Maybe look at your property tax bill and see how much goes to schools?
No news here. Tiritilli has admitted he bucked the system and disobeyed directives. That’s insubordination. And actions have consequences.
Considering that, Tiritilli could sue for all the times other teachers should have been fired for similar matters. There are many things that could be considered insubordination, and the school board should weigh those merits. While perhaps Tiritilli did not follow a proper procedure, this is a teachable moment.
Perhaps the board was embarrassed after their recent spending of taxpayer funds on a luxurious dinner for themselves and some spouses. Tiritilli work could have saved them money to continue to use taxpayer funds for their own luxury. I say that in jest.
Insubordination implies intent. Was Marc told NOT to repair the lighting by Mr Moore? Marc admitted that he made a mistake by going to the Board which he believed at the time was the appropriate course of action. Perhaps Mr. Moore was questioned by the Board as to the wisdom of spending $50K for a new system. The best resolutions are accomplished with private communication and a reprimand, not publicly pulling rank.
So, he went to the wrong person regarding a budget item. How is this grounds for termination? Seems like Mr. Moore is more concerned about his authority over others than the students or taxpayers.Pulling Marc to the side and explaining the error probably would have been the professional thing to do. Sadly, Mr. Tiriitilli became a marked man the moment he began to question Koos and the establishment ruling class in Normal. Not saying a conspiracy is in play, but Mr. Tiriitilli was probably not well liked by all the businesses, government agencies, and people that stand to gain from big government and its spending. He opened a lot of minds to a new way of thinking and governing both in Normal and Bloomington.
Bingo (Sad, unfortunate, and true).
I wonder if Mr. Moore is related to Charlie Moore of the Chamber of (Cronie) Commerce? Anyway, let’s not forget the harassment bestowed upon Eric Decossas for challenging the Bloomington politics. I’ve seen more than enough circumstantial evidence to put away the benefit of the doubt and convict. This hit was politically motivated, unless you were born yesterday.
My children had a wonderful English teacher with a life sized cut out of the President that this teacher loved…my children were then indoctrinated for 45 minutes each day into the liberal think. I often wondered if that was a legal thing. It was an English class not a government class. District 87 doesn’t like anyone questioning their authority. I have more examples, but I know what they are capable of when one tries to stand up for what is right. They have absolutely no issue destroying the lives of students and apparently educators who have a free thought. For the record I don’t have anything to lose at this point and I might have my daughter write a story. She has a story I’m sure she could tell. There was a video at the criminal trial, I can’t get my hands on it, but I bet someone could.
SAD state of AFFAIRS when as a CAPITALIST country we CANNOT teach our children HOW to get things DONE in the most efficient and economical way possible without getting a slap in the face.. NO WONDER we have idiots ! Running things..
In High school MY physics (and astronomy) teacher was an INSPIRATION and NO DUMMY! and logically, who can teach physics without a GOOD working knowledge of things . Now if you taught english, political science, cooking, PE, etc I was OK with that, but the REAL teachers are the ones from the HARD classes! MATH ( WHO figured out Pi?) , PHYSICS ( WHAT is the universal theory?) , CHEMISTRY ( HOW do they make aspirin?) , IF you can get a good grade in THESE THREE you WILL GO FAR!!! Trust me, EVEN if you don’t TOTALLY understand them, at LEAST have a GRASP of WHAT the heck the WORLD is about! It WILL serve you WELL the REST of your days!
I guess WHAT I’m TRYING to say is that WHEN you read a book and you get to a part where they “discuss” one of these three subjects, you CAN read it and NOT just skim over it like you KNOW what it’s about. PLEASE youngsters, take heed in WHAT I SAY!!!
It WILL make YOUR life more REWARDING for ALL your days to come….
OR in YOUR lingo, been there, done that, did it, had fun, next page! LIVIN’ LARGE!
As for stepping on the WRONG peoples heads. Well, IF you’re GOOD at what you do YOU’ll come out OK! You MIGHT take the job!! consider it.. it’s called ADVANCEMENT!!
Do your job: teach physics. Good luck in 2021.
Isn’t part of this job also to work in theatre too? Where I went to school, the drama position was a part-time compensated position. There were also positions where teachers were part-time PE and part-time health or drivers’ ed. So if an instructor notices something that would save the district $50k on vehicle expenses and asks the question about it, would you, Rich, say, “Do your job: teach PE.”?
As a taxpayer, I applaud teachers who go out of their way to save the district significant money. If only more teachers at each school would nearly pay their salary in cost savings. We’d have more money for technology, more money for learning aids, more money for teachers’ aids, and lower property taxes.
As others have pointed out, this could have easily been handled with a conversation about the appropriate way to bring this issue through proper channels. However, teachers don’t often go from excellent evaluations (nobody is disputing he’s not a great teacher, possibly one of the best the school has) to terminated for reasons like this.
I wonder how ISU feels about “Rich” using their computers for commenting here?
Oh, ISU and IWU just LOVE people like “Rich”. It’s Conservatives, traditionalists, Christians, and non Radicalized white males in general that they hate, persecute, harass, and work nearly full-time to obliterate from the “higher education” process. Remember that next time their respective alumni associations have their greedy hands out. Quite simply, you are funding the enemy.
Your “job” as a teacher is FAR more than just “teaching your subject” – those who think that one should just stay in their small niche are an example of those who are deep in their field but know NOTHING of their neighbors field, which is quite unfortunate really, very limiting indeed, and the conclusion of a small person. A GOOD coach for example has no problem taking advice from the History teacher if the history teacher has good advice. A mechanic might also be a carpenter, and a carpenter may be well versed in Shakespeare’s plays. Sad that some might say to him “Do your job, just hammer and drill” if he volunteered to direct the school play of Hamlet.
Wonder if there were cronies going to be enriched by the lighting project, and Mark short circuited (pun intended) their plan
Good chance, palms must stay well greased, and the money needs to stay “in the family” so to speak and also keep a flowin’.
That was my first thought. Somebody on the school board or administration was damned well determined that Marc was not going to stop that $50,000 deal from doing down. Follow the money. What government crook was going to get some of that cash?
I’m curious as to how this student had access to Mr. Tiritilli’s evaluations. I believe that per Illinois law those are not public record.
Maybe they are talking about student evaluations of their teachers. I really don’t know.
The student evaluations are what I was referring to. Those aren’t public record but the student refers to knowing how Mr. Tiritilli was scored. Did someone at the school disclose that information?
Not that I got in my FOIA. Great teachers have students who know it. Maybe it was an assumption based on how they and their friends evaluated him.
Here is my take: Absent more evidence, this situation sounds like standard office politics. Marc showed a way to save gobs of money. The principal took huge offense at being made to look so foolish. He decided to exact revenge by firing Marc. It’s a typical move by cowardly, weenie managers. I agree with other commenters that there could be a factor in whoever was getting the contract leaning on the principal to fire Marc, but that theory needs more evidence.
Another thought — does Marc have an education administration degree? If so, then the principal was concerned that people above him would start to think about replacing him with the smart guy who managed to save 50k without even really trying. So Marc became a threat that had to be neutralized.
No matter what, shame on the school board for not stepping in.
I have a bunch of emails from students. They love Marc. The school board taught them that good teachers are immaterial.
It also taught them just do as told and don’t have ideas unless they are ideas we approve of.
Maybe they should stage a walk out or boycott physics class next semester.
Why am I not surprised. Typical school district business as usual. Don’t fix it buy new!
I learned this real quick after being on a school board. Let’s make that funding trough of need as deep, wide and long as we can. Let’s show the state and taxpayers we need money. The more the better! No joke.
I presume Mr. Tititilli is a taxpayer in the district. If he is then I see no problem approaching a board member. It sounds like Mr. Moore has an ego problem to me. It’s my way always. Boo hoo someone went over his head. Just maybe Mr. Moore is the real problem!
Since he ran in Normal, I assuming he lives in Unit 5. He is all about good government, even schools. Too bad the schools aren’t.