IL Legislators are getting it wrong on SB2914.
House Education Committee session last night: School districts pay $10,000+ for each day of hearing/arbitration as it is (this is a conservative number given the amount of preparation, pre-hearing work, discovery, etc.). SB2914 would add a layer of escalated process (binding arbitration for a notice in an employee file) that is unnecessary.
Notices to remedy are issued to teachers who call children racial epithets - teachers who intentionally and repeatedly leave classes of children to go to their cars to sleep - teachers who refuse to implement students’ IEP/504 plans — etc., etc., etc. Really, IL legislators? We want to force binding arbitration and waste tax dollars to protect these actions by bad actors?
If the issue is that the notice/name of the teacher is in the public record? — then make a law that the notice that’s read into the public record uses a random identifier and doesn’t name the teacher. If the issue is that the teachers want to have additional opportunity to challenge the allegations before the Board? — then make an optional hearing opportunity before the Board that can be challenged.
The outcome of forcing this legislation through to law will likely be two things: (1) Increased litigation and wealthier lawyers — teachers and schools will both lose in this outcome. (2) Greater incentive to address teacher misconduct by going directly to dismissal instead of through notices to remedy. Why would boards of education want to pay for two formal processes to address bad actors? It’ll be cheaper to risk it to go to hearing once on the action. This cannot possibly be the desired outcome of the unions and will assuredly result in more turmoil in the schools, not less. Children and schools lose with this legislation.
- James of Little Italy - Thursday, May 7, 26 @ 4:56 pm:
How sad & disappointing.
==* Sun-Times | Longtime aide to Rep. Danny Davis charged with Covid-19 unemployment fraud: A longtime deputy district director for Congressman Danny Davis has been hit with federal charges for allegedly obtaining more than $31,000 in unemployment insurance benefits during the pandemic — while still working for the congressman. Gerard C. Moorer, 42, of Chicago, is charged with three counts of wire fraud, each of which is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison, the U.S. Attorney’s office announced on Wednesday.==
- Candy Dogood - Thursday, May 7, 26 @ 9:03 am:
Do you know who else has been missing?
How many weeks has it been since Oscar made a public appearance on this blog?
- Friendly Bob Adams - Thursday, May 7, 26 @ 12:18 pm:
“I was burned out from exhaustion, buried in the hail, Poisoned in the bushes and blown out on the trail”…. sounds like the end of session coming up
- CorpCounsel - Thursday, May 7, 26 @ 1:18 pm:
IL Legislators are getting it wrong on SB2914.
House Education Committee session last night: School districts pay $10,000+ for each day of hearing/arbitration as it is (this is a conservative number given the amount of preparation, pre-hearing work, discovery, etc.). SB2914 would add a layer of escalated process (binding arbitration for a notice in an employee file) that is unnecessary.
Notices to remedy are issued to teachers who call children racial epithets - teachers who intentionally and repeatedly leave classes of children to go to their cars to sleep - teachers who refuse to implement students’ IEP/504 plans — etc., etc., etc. Really, IL legislators? We want to force binding arbitration and waste tax dollars to protect these actions by bad actors?
If the issue is that the notice/name of the teacher is in the public record? — then make a law that the notice that’s read into the public record uses a random identifier and doesn’t name the teacher. If the issue is that the teachers want to have additional opportunity to challenge the allegations before the Board? — then make an optional hearing opportunity before the Board that can be challenged.
The outcome of forcing this legislation through to law will likely be two things: (1) Increased litigation and wealthier lawyers — teachers and schools will both lose in this outcome. (2) Greater incentive to address teacher misconduct by going directly to dismissal instead of through notices to remedy. Why would boards of education want to pay for two formal processes to address bad actors? It’ll be cheaper to risk it to go to hearing once on the action. This cannot possibly be the desired outcome of the unions and will assuredly result in more turmoil in the schools, not less. Children and schools lose with this legislation.
- James of Little Italy - Thursday, May 7, 26 @ 4:56 pm:
How sad & disappointing.
==* Sun-Times | Longtime aide to Rep. Danny Davis charged with Covid-19 unemployment fraud: A longtime deputy district director for Congressman Danny Davis has been hit with federal charges for allegedly obtaining more than $31,000 in unemployment insurance benefits during the pandemic — while still working for the congressman. Gerard C. Moorer, 42, of Chicago, is charged with three counts of wire fraud, each of which is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison, the U.S. Attorney’s office announced on Wednesday.==