Schools

District 15 Board Stands Behind Early Release Decision, Despite CTC Grievance

On Friday, the District 15 board approved an early release on Fridays to allocate development time for teachers. Despite a grievance filed by the teachers' union, the board stood behind its decision Wednesday.

The Classroom Teachers' Council (CTC) recently filed a grievance against District 15, according to the Journal and Topics, relating to the school board's . 

At the school board meeting Wednesday, newly elected Board President Peggy Babcock told those in attendance the board has no plans to reverse the decision and will stand behind it, despite the grievance being filed, according to Gerard Iannuzzelli, District 15 board member. 

The grievance process first requires both sides sit down with a grievance office, said Manjula Sriram, District 15 board member, and if they cannot reach an agreement, an arbitrator would be utilized. 

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"If an arbitrator is used, he or she will have to determine what the phrase 'overwhelming opposition' means," Sriram said. 

'Overwhelming opposition' was verbiage included in the CTC contract with District 15 in regards to a potential outcome of the Late Start/Early Release decision.

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"Weekly release of students by means of late start except that the concept of late start may be amended to an early release in the event there is overwhelming opposition from parents in the District 15 community during the development and stages prior to implementation," the contract states. 

But the phrase overwhelming opposition has not been defined publically.

Since December 2012, parents have pushed back on the idea of late start due to issues relating to childcare; District 15 administration has said accomodations would be made to supervise children before school, but it would come at an extra cost and busing could not be available.

In single parent or two working parent homes, safety concerns have been voiced over children having to lock the doors behind them in the morning if parents have already left for work.

A Change.org petition was created by a parent to petition for early release Fridays instead. Numerous public hearings were held and two surveys issued by the school district. The first survey did not include early release as an option, so a second survey was created by District 15 to include that choice. 

Out of 12,236 responses, early release Friday topped all other options with 1,479 people choosing that option first. Late start Monday was the next most popular first choice with 885 votes. Only 112 parents chose Wednesday last start as their first option. 

Survey results in their entirety can be viewed here

After the board vote on Friday, Scott Thompson, District 15 superintendent said he wouldn't be surprised if the CTC filed a grievance, or if the issue ended up going to arbitration.

"Our teachers are a fine group of people, and right now, I believe there is an opinion that their contract is not being upheld," Thompson said. 


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