---

School Board News Bulletin
July 1996

---

"The average age where a youth gets his first full-time job with benefits is 28 or 29," says Rae Nelson, executive director, Center for Workforce Preparation, U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "So the majority of kids come out of high school and kind of float through the system for 10 years trying to find a match for their skills."

The burgeoning "school-to-work" movement is trying to address the problem by attracting into trades more of those high school graduates who aren't college bound. More broadly, the effort seeks to facilitate moves by high school graduates into all sorts of careers that don't require a college degree.

The federal government has allocated $400 million in the current budget for seed money for school-to-work efforts at the local level.

To learn more about school-to-work programs, call the Center for Workforce Preparation at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce at 202/ 463-5525, or the National School to Work Learning and Information Center at 1-800/251-7236. You can also visit the information center's World Wide Web site on the Internet at: http://www.stw.ed.gov .

Table of Contents

The district, which serves 27,000 students, was found guilty of long-standing racial discrimination after a protracted lawsuit in 1993. A series of remedies has since been imposed by the federal courts. The latest ruling by U.S. Magistrate Judge P. Michael Mahoney said blame for at least one-half of the achievement gap between the races could be assigned to the school district. Mahoney thus ordered the district to cut in half the 35-percent gap between white students and minority (black and Hispanic) students by the 2000-01 school year. Alternatively, the district may satisfy the court order by ensuring that at least 9 in every 10 minority students reaches a level of achievement within one year of grade level in mathematics and reading scores.

The district reportedly plans to appeal the achievement mandates, and could also appeal the racial quotas, which generally call for classroom-by-classroom integration on a numerical basis, Education Week reported.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

In addition to confining the use of the Mountain Dew Extreme Network to non-school hours, the network is promoting the slogan "Beepers are cool but not in school." The slogan will appear as part of every tape-recorded message on the network.

In the Chicago area, the slogan will also appear on various Mountain Dew packaging and store advertising. School leaders with questions or comments can call Malcolm Chester at 847/394-7707.

Table of Contents

The Alternative Education Work Group, which first met in June, was established in response to adoption of the Safe Schools Act sponsored by State Representative Rick Winkel (R., Champaign) and State Senator John Maitland (R., Bloomington). The 27 members of the group represent education, state government, law enforcement and the courts, parents and community-based organizations.

The General Assembly budgeted $15 million to operate alternative education programs for disruptive students in the 1996-97 school year under the Safe Schools Act. Regional Offices of Education will administer the programs. ROEs have the option of contracting with one or more local school districts to provide the services for disruptive students.

Table of Contents

TOOLS FOR SCHOOLS

Conflict resolution education: A guide to program implementation in schools, youth-serving organizations, and community and juvenile justice settings will include an overview of effective conflict resolution approaches, examples of model programs, and a resource directory. (Order the guide from the Justice Department's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 800/638-8736, or from the Education Department's Web site, http://www.ed.gov).

Forums to teach nonviolent conflict resolution will be held later this year in Houston (September 29-October 1); St. Louis (October 17-19); Washington, D.C. (November 15-17); and San Diego (December 1-3). Registration must be made four weeks in advance to obtain special room rates at the respective conference hotels.

For information on the forums, call the Illinois Institute for Dispute Resolution, 217/384-4118.

The cost of the Third Edition is $57.50 plus $6 for shipping and handling. It can be ordered from the publisher a leader for 18 years in publishing directories for nonprofit organizations Research Grant Guides, Inc., Dept. 3A, P.O. Box 1214, Loxahatchee, FL 33470; 407/795-6129; Fax 407795-7794.

Table of Contents

FEDERAL UPDATE

The amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) would allow schools to withdraw educational services from expelled disabled students for weapons or drug violations. The bill, H.R. 3268, also would give schools a new route for removing an extremely disruptive or dangerous disabled student from class while a new permanent placement is found.

A U.S. Senate rewrite of IDEA moved out of committee in March but the bill S. 1578 is waiting to be scheduled for floor action. The Senate version is more limited. It contains fewer provisions limiting attorneys' fee costs to school districts.

Source: NSBA News Service, June 11, 1996; NSBA Call to Action, June 18, 1996.

Title I is a $6.7 billion program to help teach low-achieving children, especially in high-poverty schools.

Source: Ed Initiatives, (a weekly update via Internet), Office of the Under Secretary, U.S. Department of Education, June 21, 1996.

Table of Contents

WORKSHOPS AND MEETINGS

Those interested in starting an intergenerational program will find everything they need during the September 13 conference called "Hand in Hand: Connecting Individuals and Communities." Those already involved in intergenerational ventures, are invited to share their experiences from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Governors State University, South of Chicago at University Park.

For registration information, contact Governors State University, 708/534-4099 or FAX 708/534-8458.

For program information, contact Jane Angelis, Illinois Intergenerational Initiative, Mailcode 4341, SIU, Carbondale, IL 62901; phone 618/453-1186.

Chance to cover Conference panel

* take a more active role in the Joint Annual Conference?
* provide valuable information for your colleagues?
* see your name in print?

No experience necessary; if you are willing to cover a session, we will provide detailed instructions.

To sign on, contact Marilyn Turnbull, 217/528-9688, ext. 1131; or fax, 217/753-2485.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

According to the First District Appellate Court, a teacher's physical conduct in violation of a warning resolution was remediable and, thus, her dismissal was reversed. This case one that received national attention in a "20/20" broadcast is of importance to every school official in Illinois. In its statement in support of the Chicago Board's appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court, the IASB likened a warning resolution to a "line drawn in the sand." The IASB warned that for such notices to be meaningful, courts cannot require that imaginary line to be repeatedly redrawn, each time further back.

An elementary school teacher received a warning resolution instructing her to cease using corporal punishment in order to avoid dismissal. In her next teaching assignment, some 43 days later, the teacher again engaged in unjustified physical conduct with her students. The State Board of Education agreed with the Chicago Board that the teacher had engaged in irremediable conduct warranting her dismissal.

The Illinois Court of Appeals, however, upheld the lower court's finding that the teacher's conduct was not irremediable because there was insufficient evidence of damage to students, faculty, or the school. While the Court acknowledged the teacher had violated the warning notice by having physical contact with her students, absent injuries or other damage, the conduct was remediable. Golub v. Board of Education of the City of Chicago, Il. App. First Dist. No. 1-93-1963 (4/29/96).

The IASB filed its statement in support of the Chicago Board of Education on June 3, 1996. An excerpt from the compelling statement, written by J. Christian Miller of Miller, Tracy, Braun & Wilson, Ltd. follows:

The First District Appellate Court, while upholding the findings of fact of the Board of Education that Respondent had engaged in physical conduct violative of the warning resolution, erroneously reversed the findings of the Board that such conduct was irremediable . . .. The Appellate Court's order indicates that the Respondent simply did not injure the students she physically assaulted after the warning resolution issued, severely enough or for such a length of time to constitute "damage" . . ..

The Respondent was given a warning to cease physically assaulting students, or face dismissal. In essence a line in the sand was drawn. The very first time back in the classroom, the very first chance she had to engage in the proscribed conduct, she physically assaulted students every single day she was present in the classroom. She crossed that line at the very first chance she had. Must a Board of Education wait until one of its students is maimed, disfigured, or otherwise permanently injured before such specifically prohibited conduct becomes irremediable? Must a Board of Education continue to serve warning resolutions on a teacher engaging in physical assault of students until such physical assaults result in a more severe injury than the original conduct?

[I]n situations of physical assaults by teachers, once a warning resolution has issued, it is the opinion of IASB that, as a matter of law, a subsequent violation of the warning, i.e. physical assault, regardless of whether the assault was severe enough to require medical attention, is per se irremediable. Any other result would have the affect of making warning resolutions a triviality. In essence, the Appellate Court is requiring the Board of Education to keep drawing a line in the sand, each time further back than the last.

Thus, the IASB urged the Illinois Supreme Court to return the integrity to warning resolutions by finding that when a teacher ignores a warning to cease physically abusing students, the conduct is irremediable and a discharge should be upheld. To force a board of education to continue to employ persons unfit to teach is contrary to Illinois law and policy.

Table of Contents

June 19: Teacher salary schedule, mailed to board presidents.

June 21: Digest of Bills Passed 1996, mailed to board presidents and district superintendents.

June 25: Forms for reporting activities to IASB to qualify board members for Leadership & Development Awards, mailed to district superintendents.

FOR SALE: Mobile science instructor's table, $450; ten lockers (accommodates 40 students), $50; 14 metal desks with lift tops, $3 each; 20 metal and wooden chairs, $1 each. Contact D.J. Mayberry, Superintendent, Eswood District 269, Lindenwood, Illinois 61049, telephone 815/393-4477.

Table of Contents

This newsletter is published by the Illinois Association of School Boards for member boards of education and their superintendents. The Illinois Association of School Boards, an Illinois not-for-profit corporation, is a voluntary association of local boards of education and is not affiliated with any branch of government.

Gerald R. Glaub, Director of Communications
Gary Adkins, Editor

Headquarters:
2921 Baker Drive * Springfield, Illinois 62703-5929
(217) 528-9688

Regional Office:
200 West 22nd Street, Suite 249 * Lombard, Illinois
(630) 629-3776