EDWARDSVILLE – The Edwardsville Education Association (EEA) is planning to speak out against the Edwardsville Community Unit School District 7 (D7) regarding the administration’s recent plan to eliminate 5% of the teaching positions within the district. Hundreds of community members, teachers, staff and students are expected to wear red and pack tonight’s D7 Board of Education (BOE) meeting.
In a memo sent out on March 19, the district noted the plan is to recommend the BOE vote to non-renew 14 probationary teachers and six permanent, roving substitute positions. The administration is also asking the board not to fill the positions of seven retirees. EEA did not receive the proper 15-day notice for the 27 proposed reductions in force (RIFs) as required by their contractual agreement with the district.
“We recognize the board and administration have a responsibility to have an appropriate level of staffing based on enrollment and school funding. But it does not make sense why the board has been approving almost every purchase brought to them for the last several years and now all the sudden, they’re in some sort of financial panic,” EEA Co-President Robert Unzicker said. “Such a panic that we are eliminating 27 positions, which will have an impact on student learning and add to the workload of the remaining staff.”
In the past year, D7 has requested and the BOE has approved:
- the purchasing of several sport utility vehicles (SUVs),
- buying shuttles,
- rental agreements for several downtown offices,
- purchasing software licenses that are being underutilized like Panorama and Thought Exchange,
- sending staff several states away for professional development that was also being offered in nearby St. Louis,
- and adding multiple new administrator positions.
“These proposed cuts are coming while there is $12 million in D7’s educational reserves. School districts are not banks. We should not be taxing our community, so we can sit on a huge pile of cash and cut services to our students,” Unzicker said. “We are requesting the board do the right thing and protect these positions.”
There are more than 500 teachers and certified staff in the EEA bargaining unit serving the more than 7,000 students who attend D7 schools.
Tonight’s board meeting begins at 7 p.m., however teachers and community members will begin arriving around 4 p.m., ahead of executive session which will start at 5:15 p.m. The board meeting will be held at Liberty Middle School (1 District Drive, Edwardsville). It can also be live streamed at this link.
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The 135,000 member Illinois Education Association (IEA-NEA) is the state’s largest union. IEA represents Pre K-12 teachers outside the city of Chicago and education support staff, higher education faculty, retired education employees and students preparing to become teachers, statewide.
