insider ~ April 29, 2008

Region 5 honors teacher, educational support professional

Members of IEA Region 5 packed Michael's Restaurant in Highland on April 22 to honor annual award winners and hear National Education Association President Reg Weaver.

Jeanne Johnson, chair of Region 5, presented the 2008 Outstanding Teacher award to Carol Lunan, president of the Triad Education Association. Lunan has taught sixth grade at Triad Middle School in Troy since 1994.

Linda Dugan of the Bond-Fayette Special ESP Association received the 2008 Outstanding Educational Support Professional award. Dugan has worked as a special education assistant in the Vandalia school district for the past 20 years.

Weaver pumped up the attendees about the upcoming November election, noting the next U.S. president will be charged with dealing with the inadequacies of the No Child Left Behind Act.

"When you don't fund something to the tune of $70 billion, it makes it extremely difficult for you in the schools to be successful," said Weaver, who served as IEA president before taking over the NEA helm.

Johnson also announced the Region 5 winners of the 2008-09 IEA scholarships: Rebecca Peddicord and Derek Miller.

Carol Lunan, center, is congratulated by IEA Vice President Bob Blade, left, and IEA Secretary-Treasurer Cinda Klickna, right, after receiving the Region 5 Outstanding Teacher award.

Linda Dugan was named Region 5 Outstanding Educational Support Professional.

IEA/SIUC Professor wins state ethics test battle

A university professor who aced an ethics test has won a legal battle with state officials who wanted him punished for completing the written exam too quickly.

A settlement agreement has been reached between the state and Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (SIUC) professor, Marvin Zeman.

Illinois law mandates all state employees undergo ethics training and then be tested on it. Though the state's testing rules don't specify how much time should be spent taking the test, noncompliance letters were sent to state workers who, in the opinion of the bureaucrats, had completed the test too quickly.

"We filed the lawsuit with the support of IEA because we resented the fact that our integrity, along with that of more than 15,000 other state employees, was questioned by bureaucrats in the inspector general's office," said Zeman, who also serves as president of the SIUC Faculty Association.

The settlement agreement specifies that Zeman read and understood the material and successfully passed the test when he took it in 2006.

Professors Walter Wallis, left, and Marvin Zeman, center, review the lawsuit with IEA UniServ Director Jim Clark.

A group of IEA Retired members attend a conference at the Hyatt Lodge at McDonald's Campus in Oak Brook, Saturday, April 5.