* A school district near Peoria is demanding that its teachers submit to random drug tests. The teachers say no other district in the nation requires this and they went out on strike. Local Democratic state Senator and congressional candidate Dave Koehler is quite angry at the school board…

Koehler had strong words for the School Board, insisting that if there was an issue with drug use among teachers, random drug testing wouldn’t necessarily be the solution.

“Having this policy in place gives a false sense of security,” Koehler said. “I spent 21 years on the Labor Management Council dealing with this issue, and I know there are more effective ways to create a drug-free workplace.”

According to IFT President Dan Montgomery, no other school district in the country has instituted such a policy.

Many in the crowd, including Koehler, believed the School Board is making a “power play,” to gain leverage in future negotiations. Others handed out pamphlets alleging that the board’s actions are retaliation against the teachers.

But the teachers aren’t totally opposed to all drug tests…

The union has agreed to submit to drug tests if the administration can show probable cause.

* The school district has dug in deep and is now set to hire replacement workers…

On Wednesday, Karl Meurlot, the attorney and spokesman for the school board’s bargaining team, said the administration was conducting interviews later that day and said the district received more applicants than it has positions it needs to fill. He said the school hopes to open some time next week with replacement teachers.

However, filling the appropriate slots for the high school, where specialized teachers are needed for different subjects, could prove tricky and the high school may open later than grades K-8.

As for parents who have pledged to refuse to send their children to school to learn from replacement teachers, Meurlot said they will not legally have a choice.

“That’s not their option,” Meurlot said. “Those students will be truant. Parents don’t get to select teachers from the regular pool. The truth is if those students are not sent to school and we have classrooms available to them, they’re truant.”

* Meanwhile, Doug Bartlett, a second grade teacher at Washington Irving Elementary School in Chicago, brought some tools to his class for show and tell recently. Along with wrenches, screwdrivers and pliers, Bartlett also brought a 2.25″ pocketknife and a box cutter. The kids were reportedly not allowed to touch the tools, but Bartlett is being investigated for “possessing, carrying, storing, or using a weapon,”"

Bartlett asked the Rutherford Institute for help and it assigned some attorneys to the case. The conservative Institute usually focuses on religious liberty issues, but they’re all over this one…

Institute attorneys are urging Valeria Newell Bryant, the principal of Washington Irving Elementary School, to immediately dismiss any and all disciplinary actions against Bartlett. “In an age where public schools face an unprecedented number of real challenges in maintaining student discipline, and addressing threats of real violence, surely no one benefits from trumped up charges where no actual ‘weapons’ violation has occurred and there is no threat whatsoever posed to any member of the school community,” stated the Institute in its letter.

* The Chicago Public School system decided this week to extend next school year by two weeks. School days will be lengthened by 90 minutes. The teachers’ union is opposed to this plan and has been openly threatening a strike for weeks. But one thing you can always count on with the CTU is rampant internal dissension. Tuesday’s House of Delegates meeting, called after the CTU walked out of the negotiations, was no exception…

[CTU president Karen Lewis] and several House of Delegates members said a 75 percent threshold [by all eligible voters to authorize a strike] is attainable because teachers are very upset about the board action to deny raises, to implement a longer day without input from teachers, and what they call an overall lack of respect.

However, there was some dissension among members at Tuesday night’s meeting. Members of the United Progressive Caucus, which until recently controlled the union, handed out fliers calling Lewis, who was elected just over one year ago, “clueless” and a “flip-flop” for her changing position on the legislation that increased the strike threshold.

* Check out one of the CTU demands in exchange for agreeing to various proposals from the school system…

An end to business relationships with five major banks — Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase among them — that are involved in the largest number of foreclosures for union members and their families. Doing so, the union said, would “turn up the pressure” and force these banks to renegotiate better loan terms that would enable families to stay in their homes.

* And here’s Mayor Emanuel’s rationale for supporting the property tax increase for the school system…

, Emanuel also defended a property tax increase the school board passed Wednesday. He insisted his pledge not to hike property taxes only applies to city government, not the schools.

* In our last little bit of news, the DuPage County Board has decided to pay their regional superintendent’s salary until the governor figures out how to solve a crisis he created…

DuPage County Regional Superintendent of Schools Darlene Ruscitti will continue to receive a paycheck as she and other regional superintendents mount a legal fight to have their salaries reinstated by the state.

County board members in DuPage this week agreed to pay a prorated share of Ruscitti’s $130,000 annual salary that will be retroactive to July 1 and continue through Nov. 30.