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Local News
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Written by Michele Justic
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Thursday, 05 August 2010 10:55 |
To an outsider, the announcement at the July 26 school-board meeting that 14 special-education professionals were being dismissed may have seemed like an impulsive decision, or one focused solely on budgetary considerations. For those in the know, it’s a long overdue decision to make things fair and equitable to both populations.
Until now, the special education professionals who service the private-school system in Lawrence District 15 had been leaving the children who require these services with a deficit of sorts of around 25 days or more per year.
It began with Devorah Marcus’s goal of providing her son Elly with all the special services he was legally entitled to. After a long process and drawn out battle she succeeded and in turn wanted to afford the same benefits to all the children of the district. With that in mind, her husband, Rabbi Nahum Marcus, ran for the board three years ago, was elected, and was recently reelected to another three-year term, with the goal of providing the special needs community with as many services as are necessary and that they are legally entitled to.
One of the first steps taken three years ago was that when the occupational therapists and physical therapists began to work on the calendar of the school they were assigned to, since they were contracted out versus working as employees as part of the Lawrence Teachers Association. This put every service provider on the same schedule as the school he or she worked in whether public or private.
Nahum then tried to meet with the LTA so as to implement these changes for all service providers as well, but the LTA refused to meet with him and discuss the issue even though it was made clear to them that they were discriminating against the private-school children receiving services in the district.
After continuous pressure and prodding, Nahum was finally successful in meeting with Lori Skonberg, president of the LTA, last year to discuss the idea of having resource room teachers and speech therapists work on the same schedule as the schools they service. These professionals, as part of the Lawrence Teachers Association union, were working only on days when both public and private schools were open, creating an unfair situation for students of private schools who were deprived of their services during public schools’ vacation week and again during private schools’ vacation week as well as other national holidays when public schools were closed but private schools were open. This resulted in a discrepancy of anywhere from 25 to 28 days when special need children in the private schools who were entitled to services were not receiving them. They were supposed to be at least offered makeup sessions, but those sessions were either not feasible or not always offered.
They tried negotiating for more money but Marcus stuck to his guns, citing the legal aspects of avoiding discrimination in provision of entitled services. The LTA refused to allow their employees to work on any other calendar—only on a public-school schedule. Marcus claims he warned Skonberg that these professionals would be fired if they could not work the necessary number of days.
At an earlier meeting, the hiring of two additional resource room teachers was on the agenda, prompting Marcus to raise the calendar issue once again. Marcus refused to have these professionals hired as part of the LTA, which would obligate them to stick to the party line of only working based on the public-school calendar. They tried to sort the issue out with Dr. Annette Szafranski, director of pupil personnel services for District 15 but Skonberg said she needed to discuss it with her executive board. The LTA offered other unacceptable alternatives such as looking at this issue for next year and having it as part of the upcoming teachers’ contract negotiations. Marcus insisted that this change be made now so as not to discriminate once again against these children for yet another whole year. The LTA refused and Skonberg stated that the LTA executive board believes that this is an issue of separation of church and state and therefore it cannot allow its employees to work on any schedule other than a public-school calendar. Marcus responded at the meeting that this is not an issue of separation of church and state, but an issue of what is morally right and wrong. He commented, “This statement shows the level of discrimination and proves the lengths to which the LTA is more than willing to go, no matter the consequences.â€
It all came to a head at last Thursday’s special session when the 14 teachers who were most recently hired, were fired according to LTA protocol. Some of these teachers have agreed to work in a contractual position rather than work with the LTA and will fill the positions vacated in the private schools.
Deputy Superintendent Gary Schall said the decision would save the district nearly $500,000 in reduced salary and benefits but Marcus insists this was not the only motivation for this unanimous vote. The 14 positions will be filled with professionals of the same level, if not higher, who will work on a contractual basis. Marcus admits it is hard to train new personnel in those cases where the professionals do not agree to continue working with the district, yet it must be done so the children can receive the services they need and deserve. He also fully expects to have the positions filled before the start of the school year.
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