From the Illnois Education Association, issued yesterday:
CLASS members also will attend the District 47 Board of Education (BOE) meeting tonight and call for the administration to be held accountable.
“This really speaks to the severity of the support staff, teacher and substitute teacher shortage.
“We cannot find enough talented professionals to work in our schools.
“This crisis has been looming for years, and instead of coming up with thoughtful, long-term solutions to address these issues, the district administration opted to wait to the last minute and use taxpayer dollars to bring in temporary help who aren’t committed to our students and our community,” CLASS President Stephanie Lieurance said.
“Our students deserve the best.
“And instead of figuring out how to keep the hardworking, experienced staff members we do have and bring in new talented recruits, they chose to take a shortcut and shortchange our students and their education.”
The union recently learned district administrators hired a staffing agency to fill open positions.
The agency will earn up to $65 for every hour a temporary employee works.
That’s more than four times as much as newly-hired, permanent paraprofessionals make.
The staffing agency is charged with finding temporary paraprofessionals to fill the 21 open positions in the district.
Paraprofessionals assist students and teachers both inside and outside of the classroom.
They often work with the most vulnerable students, including those with special needs and behavioral issues.
Hiring a firm to recruit temporary employees without bargaining first is a direct violation of the IELRA and the Illinois School Code.
“We have tried to work with the district multiple times on these hiring issues.
“We care deeply about our students and our community.
“However, District 47 continues to pay our paraprofessionals less than many of our neighboring districts, like Prairie Grove School District 46 and Community High School District 155,” Lieurance said.
“We are constantly reminded by District 47 administrators that due to budgetary constraints; wage increases for new hires and current employees cannot be sustained. They are now seeing the consequences of their own decisions.”
CLASS represents more than 100 paraprofessionals who serve the nearly 7,000 students who attend the 12 schools in District 47.
Lieurance will be attending District 47’s BOE meeting and plans to make a statement.
The meeting is tonight at 7 p.m. at the Crystal Lake Elementary Building (47 CORE Center, 300 Commerce Dr, Crystal Lake).
This is what happens when Unions run a Education and a State!
We have legislators in Springfield who voted to give government sector Unions more power by voting for Amendment 1, the so called Workers Rights? bill.
Constitutional changes are almost never a good thing. States need to be flexible to compete and adapt to changes in economic conditions.
The list of Amendment 1 votes.
Keicher = Yes
Ness = Yes
Wilcox = Yes
Dewitte = Yes
Reick = No!
Sosnilowski = No!
Weber = No!
McConchie=NO!
McGlaughlin = Excused Absence
Ugaste = No, but he did vote yes to forward it out of committee!
Close your eyes and ears to what they say and print. It’s BULLSHIT
Open your eyes to how they vote!🇺🇸
Public Employee unions should be illegal.
That is tax payer money they holding us hostage to.
Then some teachers want to groom OUR kids and not tell us.
You can than a DEMOCRAT, namely President Kennedy, for allowing public sector employees to unionize.
This, of course, was done in order to garner more DEMOCRAT votes.
McLaughlin is spelled wrong.
I love all the neophytes who profess, “well not here in Crystal Lake or Cary,” our taxes get what we pay for in the excellent schools that we have.
And then you have this.
Same ol, same ol.
They did it with the masks, they did it with COVID and they do it EVERY DAMN YEAR with taxes.
Teacher unions and Democrats toeing the line.
Just like the DEI con at D300 making close to $200k a year and administrators earning $200-$300k a year.
What? Look at the warm weather, it must be Climate Change in August!
Buffoons.
Wilcox the traitor.