Fear of sleepiness prolongs Ottawa strike

I’ve been with IEA for 13 years, but this was a new one on me.

The president of the Ottawa school board claims the board won’t meet to discuss a settlement of the strike that has closed school since last Wednesday unless teachers first give them a proposal in writing.  if the proposal is, in their view, worthwhile, they will agree to meet.

OK, that’s a little unusual (and, we believe, illegal) but that’s not the nutty part.

It’s the rationale offered by school board president George Hupp.

“The Board feels it owes a duty to students and the taxpayers of this school district to do the best job we can do. We cannot do that job by attending meetings that accomplish nothing, go on for an indefinite length of time such that the Board members get tired and might possibly make a bad decision for the school and the taxpayers.”

What the heck?

I hope Hupp isn’t one of those people who claims teaching is a cushy job.  Teachers work hard, for hours every day, and they even have to stand up.  Members of the Ottawa school board apparently are prone to exhaustion, even when sitting down reading budget proposals and listening to ideas for ending the dispute that is keeping students away from their classrooms and their teachers.

In the interests of a fair, timely settlement, here’s a proposal:  If the board agrees to return to the bargaining table, IEA will provide “energy drinks”, heavily laced with caffeine, to ensure board members are able stay awake while doing the job the voters elected them to do.

When in doubt, make stuff up

Not much in life is certain, but you can take the following to the bank:

The same people who are currently on strike against the Ottawa Township High School district will resume their jobs as soon as the strike is over.

You might think that’s obvious.  If so, you don’t work for the Ottawa News-Tribune, which ran the following headline yesterday:

Ottawa High could fire striking teachers, hire new staff

Now, you might say to yourself, as I did, “Who the @#$% said that?”

And if you read the story, you would know the fearless prediction came from an “attorney with knowledge of education law.”

Not just any lawyer would make such a bold statement.

No average barrister would claim that something that has never happened anywhere in Illinois in the 25 years since the Collective Bargaining Act was passed could actually happen soon in Ottawa.

No, this was a special attorney.

This was an anonymous attorney.

But a local attorney with knowledge of education law, speaking on condition of anonymity, said district officials could go a step further: they could fire everyone on the picket lines and hire new staff.
“It’s possible to permanently replace striking teachers,” the attorney allowed, “but the number of steps that a school district has to go through make it impractical in most cases.”
The attorney explained there are dozens of obstacles that would spawn lawsuits and grievances and run up massive legal bills for the district. The list of potential headaches includes severing the contracts of tenured teachers and cutting off non-tenured teachers from benefit agreements.

Hmm.  “Impractical in most cases.”

Maybe that’s why IT’S NEVER HAPPENED IN ILLINOIS!

I have no doubt that the source here is a smart lawyer.

A smart lawyer knows that, if you’re going to spew a lot of BS, you’d better not have your name attached to it.

Here’s another quote, though perhaps not as newsworthy:

“If the plan is to use scare tactics to coerce the Ottawa teachers into surrendering, it’s not going to work.”

You can quote me on that.

Comments?

charlie.mcbarron@ieanea.org