District 230 parents voice concern about teacher safety, quality of substitute teachers

At the Aug. 27 Board of Education meeting, parents asked that teachers be allowed to instruct students remotely. President Tony Serratore said community should "let the people in charge do their job."

Parents and teachers in Consolidated High School District 230 expressed frustration with the Board of Education for requiring teachers to deliver instruction from their classrooms when students are learning remotely.

Ten parents voiced their concerns during the public comment session of the Board’s Aug. 27 meeting. The community members urged the Board to allow teachers to work from home for their health and safety during the coronavirus pandemic.

The pandemic is of increasing concern in Suburban Cook County, which is one of several counties considered to be at a warning level by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Screenshot of Consolidated High School District 230 Aug. 27 Board of Education meeting

“This is the first time I’ve ever been disappointed in this school board. Many of our teachers are also parents,” said Patricia Brucki. A parent of three Sandburg graduates and a veteran 30-year high school teacher, Brucki added: “During this pandemic, flexibility, resilience, trust and creating innovative ways to best serve the students of D230 are most important. Why, then, are the board and administration ignoring the emotional stress that an in-person, in-your-classroom-only directive represents to our teaching staff?”

Brucki said the board’s decision is “distrustful of [teachers’] professionalism and speaks to anti-family, anti-community behavior.”

Of the 10 parents who submitted public comments about teachers instructing students from their classroom, none supported the in-person requirement.

“As a parent in the community, I am having doubts about my children attending this district in the future due to the fact that teachers are being forced to choose between their families and jobs,” another community member said.

Several surrounding high school districts are allowing teachers to instruct students remotely, the public commenters said.

Community members also said requiring staff to instruct their students from school facilities has led some teachers to take federally available leaves, which means substitute teachers are required to fill their place. Several of the parents questioned the quality of instruction from substitutes, as well as the additional taxpayer money required to pay substitutes. The district is paying $110 per day for external substitutes and $125 per day for District 230 retirees.

“If our community is about fostering positive relationships, why are we hurting the ones with our teachers? My son needs his teacher, not a substitute. I speak for a number of parents who feel the same,” one community member said to the Board.

In a video message from Superintendent James Gay and the three principals dated Aug. 13, Sandburg Principal Jennifer Tyrrell said the district is working through staffing considerations as a result of staff accessing federally available leaves.

“It takes time to onboard highly qualified staff to fill these roles,” Tyrrell said in the video. The Blueprint has reached out to the district to see how many teachers have taken federally available leave and whether all of the vacant positions have been filled by substitutes.

Addressing the public comments during the meeting, Gay said he was proud to see teachers working in the classrooms last week for the first full week of the academic year, and said they were doing “outstanding work.”

Board President Tony Serratore said people who submitted public comments do not know the Board members and how the members feel about the situation. He also emphasized that the district’s covid-19 response is fluid, with planning remaining flexible.

“I really wish that everybody would just take a deep breath. Relax and let the people in charge do their job,” Serratore said.

In response to some community members who said the district should follow the lead of Fortune 500 companies that are allowing employees to work from home into 2021, Board Member Dave O’Connor said the district is not a corporation and is “not about profits.”

“Any type of words of devision that are written in those letters does nothing to move the ball forward. Nothing,” O’Connor said. “So we are going to continue to do what we think is best on behalf of this entire community.” 

Following the public comments, the Board did not reverse its decision requiring teachers to facilitate instruction from school facilities.

Nearly 20 public comments were also submitted to request that the marching band be allowed to practice again, with several questioning why some fall sports teams are allowed to continue but band isn’t.

Again, Serratore told everyone to “take a breath.” He said he knows how important the band program is to students and that the Board is addressing the situation.

Also during the meeting, Communications Director Carla Erdey said the district is having to become its “own news outlet” as “coverage from local media is shrinking” across the country. The Orland Park Prairie shut down at the end of March due to the pandemic.

A school district can not be its own news outlet. If you don’t currently subscribe to the Orland Blueprint, please consider signing up below for this free newsletter to receive independent coverage of District 230 and Orland School District 135.