By: Diane Benjamin
One Public Comment was given at the last School Board meeting by the mom of a bullied student who was punished for defending himself. See 30:55 https://vimeo.com/event/3579210
When the Unit 5 School Board approved contracts on July 19th there was NO DISCUSSION. No recap for the public – nothing. Various Board members made comments at the end of the meeting praising the process.
Expired teacher’s contract:
New contract:
Taxpayers had no representation in negotiations since every school board candidate the union wanted was elected last April. Two board members recused themselves from the vote because of conflicts of interest.
Did you know “virtual learning” is in the contract? It was in the old contract too.
Also in both contracts:
PDF page 87 in both contracts: ISU waives tuition for graduate study. Unit 5 pays pays employees during internships:
So, taxpayers pay for graduate education (ISU) and internships which results in the employee receiving a higher salary because of the higher education level.
I did a very informal poll yesterday on Facebook. I asked if employers paid 100% of the health insurance costs for just the employee. The responses ranged from laughing to one person who said his private company paid 100% of FAMILY insurance. All of the other responses of 100% paid were employed by various levels of government. (That would be you paying!)
Below are the schedules for Unit 5 which does pay 100% – from both contracts:
The cost increased almost 30% in 7 years!
The salary schedules are on PDF page 88 of the new contract. There was no “across the board” increase. The percent increase is highest in the final year of the contract. WGLT printed specifics, I’m pretty sure they got their information directly from Unit 5. https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2023-07-20/unit-5-board-oks-new-contracts-staff-returns-with-better-pay
The district receives very little compensation (1 credit hour per student teacher) from ISU by hosting student teachers. Overall, it’s very little compensation considering its teachers are essentially unpaid instructors for ISU. The work that goes into hosting/mentoring a student teacher is more than the graduate credit that they would be allowed to take. The student is also paying tuition/fees to ISU for the semester, but they aren’t on campus using the same resources. A bigger benefit to the university to collect a semester or year of tuition revenue/fees and not be paying salary/benefits to professors who would be required to provide alternative coursework during that time.
Separately, the internship would be as an administrator. It’s like a private business having someone on a leadership assignment and then backfilling their role. Since the person filling in is probably a much cheaper long-term sub, it’s not a bad option.
This is not to say I agree with everything in the contract, like everything in the contract, or support U5 leadership, but it appears more facts are needed on these two topics.
My heart aches for this youth, his family, and the other children in his situation. Now, as a resident of unit 5, i would like some suggestions on how support this cause. I have been in social work for 40 years and we have the same problem in schools as back when I started my career. Schools are more afraid more to respond today, although they seem to trumpet their concerns for the children. When people profess to save the children, there is often an alterior motive. Good job Miranda!
I solved a bully problem by telling the principal to write the detention slip because I gave my son permission to deck him. Suddenly the bullying stopped.
It would seem to me that the school is in a custodial role for the children are attending classes. If so, by not protecting the child from a bullying situation after being advised of the incident, then the school is not doing their state mandated duty to protect. If this were a parent or a day care center, licensed day care home, or institution They could be reported for the incident. Then a report could be made to the DCFS HOTLINE for risk of harm to the child. Mother may want to discuss this matter with her family. She would remain anonymous according to the state CANTS system. And the department would be required to investigate if the report is taken.