In addition to saying goodbye to analog television on February 17, Peoria Public Schools Board of Education said goodbye to Controller/Treasurer Guy Cahill. Cahill won’t be making the transition to digital at the school district. 1470 WMBD radio reports:
The District 150 school board Monday, without comment, voted unanimously to give the Comptroller/Treasurer his 60 days notice. Cahill, who was making a base salary of $125,000 a year, has been placed on administrative leave the next 60 days – then his contract will be terminated. Cahill’s contract allows the district to terminate Cahill’s employment with 60 days notice and payment of six months salary. Cahill had been with District 150 since 2005. The board has selected Business Manager Carla Eman as temporary Comptroller while interviews for an interim Comptroller are conducted.
I had been hearing rumors that Cahill quit instead of being fired, but I don’t believe he would get the 60 days notice or paid administrative leave if he had quit. All appearances are that he was shown the door. And since there was no comment from the school board when taking that action, it doesn’t look like we’re going to know why… unless Cahill wants to tell us.
Regular commenter “Without Malice” wins the prize for correctly predicting Carla Eman would be the temporary Treasurer while the search is on for an interim replacement. Congratulations!
Serenity – But isn’t it a little more complicated than the District does not want to pay them sufficiently? I think there are a substantial number of special ed children in the District and my impression is that the State does not provide adequate funding for the special resources and services these children require. I know there were some cutbacks/changes to the legislation in recent years.
Frustrated, Serenity, Erika: I hope we’re not talking to the wind here. You all bring up some good points. I just wish the district could be more honest. For instance, with regard to their latest mainstreaming efforts–especially at Manual–are probably very driven by finances, not by good educational practices. However, they seem unwilling to admit the financial angle and choose to try to pass the decision off as educational beneficial. Well, it isn’t. Frustrated, you are right that the funding doesn’t follow the mandates. On the subject of teacher aides, did you read Luciano’s column in the PJS yesterday?
My husband mentioned something about guns and them not firing an aide for some illegal activity, I’ll read it and get back to you.
Yeah, that’s the kind of thing I was worried about when I found out the school district hired an aide with no training. It was very hard to get a person on the phone that could even tell me what the qualifications to getting hiring as an aide even were. When I was connected to a human resources person, they just wanted to know what my specific issue with the aide was.
Yes, Erika, I fear this situation might be serious–I’m sure it’s a matter of not being able to find and/or pay trained aides–but it’s still 150’s responsibility and liability.
How about instead of paying the “consultants” why doesn’t the district pay qualified assistants to work directly with students? I assure you the people making decisions regarding pay and benefits for assistants truly do not have any idea about the needs of these students. NONE.
Serenity: Very good idea–pay qualified people who will actually “do the work” of teaching instead of hiring more “planners.”
My son’s one-on-one aide was sick today,or something, because when I picked him up, a woman I had never seen before in my life was with him. She said she was a sub. This is probably the 4th or 5th time he’s had a substitute aide for the whole day. It’s always someone different, I only found out one of their names, and one girl told me she had just been hired. (During our conversation, she pulled out her cell phone that was vibrating to read a text meassage.) I cannot tell you how safe and secure I feel when he is at school. At least he has headphones to put on when things get too loud. But since there are some bathroom issues as well, there are strangers off the street supervising his bathroom time. Thank goodness he is terrified to have a BM at school or a stranger with a questionable background and/or social life would be wiping his backside.
Erika, I admire you from afar. You are a great Mom. Hang in there.
As a side note, his teacher is as cute as a button and very willing to learn about his various disorders and tiny querks. She also does a really good job of keeping kids in the class from picking on him. (He’s terribly handsome and has great hair so naturally he is a target for…” he’s not doing that right”. ) I have alot of respect for his teacher, she is young and really loves teaching. I don’t know if the world hasn’t crushed her spirit yet, or if there really are people out there who just love to teach. But I know she is one of them.
Erika, some of us did love to teach–I did for 43 years. The last few years were a bit rough because discipline problems escalated–but I still got plenty of support from my students, even the ones who didn’t always behave.
Diane, I read about what you did when they tried to shorten school days. Markley and Luciano? My goodness. I don’t even know how to get this thing started. Thanks for the compliment though. And Sharon, I had a feeling you were one of the good ones. 🙂
Diane, what I meant was that I thought what you and others did was awesome. My comment was a little vague.