Letter to the Editor: The Aftermath of the Lake Forest High School Strike
A reader shares his take on what he feels the aftermath of the LFHS strike will be.
The Lake Forest High School District teachers strike has ended; however, the bitter taste remains. LFEA (The teachers union) behavior has been instructive and revealing. The first surprise revelation is the LFEA affiliation with the State and National Trade Unions, the IEA and the NEA. That revelation was rather puzzling and most unbecoming of professionals. Professionalism and trade union membership are inconsistent and incompatible beliefs. Teaming up with Trade Unions at the state and national level doesn’t square with District 115, LFHS parents, students and the community. Does the recent Wisconsin protest of Governor Scott Walker’s reform agenda, by the militant teachers union leadership who hired goons from the NEA’s rent a thug department, resemble the sort of collaboration we would want our teachers to have?
Read Patch's coverage of the 2012 LFHS strike here.
The second impression one gains from the opening position of the union, is that of delusional thinking in the bubble of Lake Forest which is a quantum disconnect from the prevailing universe of teacher compensation and benefits. As the teachers must know, the State of Illinois is the keeper and provider of the teachers’ pension plan. Reliance on safekeeping by the State as the source or retirement funding, should be the cause of far more anxiety than hard line bargaining from the Board of Education. The Wall Street Journal, on Saturday September 21st, 2012, posted a sobering article about a looming government employee pension funding crisis, nearly everywhere. In that category, Illinois leads the pack for irresponsibility, ineptitude and deception in the (mis) management of various pension funds, estimated to have shortfalls of $80 Billion to $200Billion. While this is going on down state and out of sight, the Lake Forest Teachers will be impacted when the their pension fund finally defaults from lack of cash. There are many contributors to the crisis, but surely the politicians, so thoroughly controlled by the teacher’s union puppeteers, are in front of the parade. That is the same union with which the LFEA is associated.
The third and likely the most potentially long term corrosive effect of this strike, is the division among the teachers about the wisdom and impact of a strike. There are devoted and dedicated LFHS teachers, many in number, whose better instincts know a strike is disruptive to the students, damaging to their personal and professional reputation and will harm the District. Then there are those for whom teaching is a job and a pay check, and sadly, there are more than enough in that category. Among the latter group, there is indifference toward the mission. The conflict between these very different attitudes will inevitably clash, both among the teachers and the administration. Such conflicts will not improve the quality of education or experiences at LFHS. The LFEA, in order to insure an outcome they preferred, employed a classic union steamrolling tactic and called for a voice vote to strike. That move brought irresistible peer pressure and created the herd mentality. A secret ballot would have been fair to all and very likely produced a different outcome.
Teachers, if you want to be treated like the professionals you want to be, and compensated handsomely by D 115 for being so, please act with the dignity that distinction calls for, and attend to the responsibilities for which you have been appointed. Then, disassociate from “Big Union”, and in the future, do what is in your professional DNA, not what some union activists want you to do.
Al Boese, Lake Bluff
anne palmer
1:11 pm on Monday, September 24, 2012
What a mean letter!
James Burns
1:27 pm on Monday, September 24, 2012
Al, strike's over. Have a beer.
Gary
1:29 pm on Monday, September 24, 2012
Yeah Al!
That's awfully mean of you to write all that nasty stuff. I'll bet if you apologize real nicely to everyone you just offended, then the union will see your graciousness and return the favor by apologizing to the whole town for shutting down the school on false pretenses. And furthermore, I'm sure the union will return whatever extra goodies the board gave them as a show of good will toward all the people whose lives were disrupted by the strike.
On second thought, I want to see the union go first.
Gerard Gundling
8:19 pm on Monday, September 24, 2012
Does anyone know what the settlement is? Why is it being kept a secret? Shouldn't we (the tax payers) be informed?
Me
10:25 pm on Monday, September 24, 2012
Dear Mr. Boese,
It was extremely unkind of you to write such a truthful letter. The teachers who staged a 'work stoppage" were only exercising democracy in an attempt to gain above market wages. Granted, these teachers, on average do an admirable job and they probably deserve to be in the top one or two percent or teacher salaries (this is especially true of the truly superior drivers ed teacher). It really isn't fair of you to criticize them publicly for seeking to pad their already handsome wages with an additional 18% (plus lane changes) over the next three years. And as for that salary freeze thing, that was purely a misunderstanding. The teachers never really meant to offer it as a permanent freeze, it was more like suspended animation.
in the future, please try to be more kind to these gentle creatures or else they may all run away to the half dozen schools in the state where the pay is a fraction of a percent higher.
Lee Nysted
7:58 am on Tuesday, September 25, 2012
It sure seems like there are plenty of glass houses to go around, herein. In this two dimensional medium using fake names, there will always be many "Monday morning quarterbacks" with all the answers about how yesterday should have turned out; or many angry resentful people wanting to complain about anything and everything, albeit without getting involved or having any real answers to any problems. The strike is over and as so often happens, there is a resolve. That is what makes a market. I am grateful that we have a great school and great teachers. Peace... press on. Lee Nysted, proud dad of three Lake Forest high school girls.
Gary
8:51 am on Tuesday, September 25, 2012
... and the demonization of the innocent victims continues.
That was not the operation of a free market. What we just saw was the result of a rigged system controlled, setup, and paid for by the teachers' unions.
The laws are setup so that 7 unpaid amateurs (sorry BOE, that's what you are, and that's what I'd be if I were there too) pitted against the most powerful political force in the country.
But even those odds are not good enough for Big Education. In Illinois they have made it illegal for the BOE to communicate with their constituents during negotiations. In fact, that was one of the grievances filed by the union against the BOE, that they were rallying public opinion against the union. Imagine that. It's illegal for our our representatives to talk to us about a deal that concerns our kids, our school, and our community. If we show any resistance, they go legal on us.
It's the union that forced the cloak and dagger methods of negotiation on us, where people have to watch what they say and who they say it to for fear of a lawsuit or retaliation from embittered teachers.
In fact, let's address that right here. What the hell kind of system is it that has half the town running scared from their own school? We are actually SCARED of what the school will do to our kids, and we're right to be scared. It's disgusting. That's not our fault. In a free market we wouldn't be afraid of the school.
Proud, scared, Dad.
Deadcatbounce
9:52 am on Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Market? Do you even know what a market is? The union has always remained consistent in opposing pay based on teacher performance or aptitude. Unlike a free market the compensation plan for the teachers union is a traditional credential-and seniority based salary schedule. Good, bad teacher, drivers ed or physics teacher, it doesn’t matter, everyone is paid off the same schedule.
Me
10:19 am on Tuesday, September 25, 2012
"That is what makes a market." - Lee Nysted
@Lee - Please explain how what we just endured was a market. From my perspective it was closer to piracy and kidnapping.
Me - Proud parent of LFHS child who is afraid to disclose my name for fear of retaliation against my children.
RationalTht
11:14 am on Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Lee - good job buying your daughters "points" with the teachers. The reason there are many "fake" names is that people have to worry about retribution exacted on our children by the teachers for daring to express that we think the teachers were already paid well and offered very FAIR raises over the next three years, yet chose to go on strike and and maybe cost some kids entry into some colleges.
Deadcatbounce
5:11 pm on Tuesday, September 25, 2012
This is for Lee Nysted who needs to be educated on "What makes a market", since he sadly has no idea what takes place in a competitive market ... http://www.hoover.org/publications/defining-ideas/article/128836
Laura
10:31 am on Tuesday, September 25, 2012
I for one, and disgusted by the teacher's actions. I put 3 children through LFHS, and can say that not one of those teachers in all of those years were what I would consider "stellar". In fact, some were so cruel, that you have to wonder what horrible lives they had growing up that they would treat a child the way some treated one of mine. As a local psychologist said to me, "that building is beautiful from the outside, but what goes on in the inside is criminal."
With our State broke, and the pensions under funded, what do those "not all about the money" people think is going to happen going forward? Perhaps the math teachers can explain to them simple mathematics, and an economics teacher can explain to them economics. They must have missed that in their educational years.
Congrats Lake Forest teachers, you have once again made the nation news and have people all over the country scratching their heads.
Kathie
5:18 pm on Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Well said, Laura. Perhaps those who say, "It's settled. Get over it." are well-meaning people who haven't had to deal with helping their kid get through a year with an abusive teacher. No, this isn't about ALL of the teachers. Not even close. But it is about enough bad apples who everyone knows exist and does nothing about that makes some of us really angry. It is even more gut wrenching as a parent to know that you can't do much to help a kid who finds themselves with one of these individuals. Any concern you do raise will likely end up having your kids singled out for even more abuse.