Summer 2012 Advocate

Illinois Education Association-NEA100 East EdwardsSpringfield, IL 62704-1999

Message fromIEA PresidentCinda Klickna

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Pensions still an issue

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All in the family

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inside ...

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Advocate

The off icial publ icat ion of the 133,600-member I l l inois Education Associat ion-NEA • Vol . 8 • Issue 4 • July 2012

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Teachers take the lead:Co-workers at one school collaborate, implement innovative disciplinary strategy to lead students to success — page 4

|2| Advocate STRONG SCHOOLS • COMMUNITIES • ECONOMY

AdvocateIEA Advocate, Volume 8, Issue 4, July 2012. TheAdvocate is published five times annually by the IllinoisEducation Association-NEA. Send correspondence to:[email protected] or IEA Department of Communi-cations, 100 East Edwards Street, Springfield, IL 62704-1999. The IEA-NEA Advocate (ISSN #1540-482X) is theofficial publication of the Illinois Education Association-NEA as a benefit of membership. A non-member sub-scription is available at $10 per year. Periodicals postagepaid at Springfield, IL.

The Illinois Education Association-NEA’s mission is to effect excellenceand equity in public education and tobe THE advocacy organization for allpublic education employees.

Cinda KlicknaPresident

Kathi GriffinVice President

Al LlorensSecretary-Treasurer

Audrey SoglinExecutive Director

Charles McBarronDirector of Communications

Bob RayMedia Relations Director

Sarah AntonacciCommunications Specialist

Mark RitterbuschGraphic Designer

Denise WardAdministrative Assistant

Linda RiceSecretary

Christina WilliamsSecretary

Postmaster:Send address corrections to Illinois EducationAssociation, attn: membership processing, 100East Edwards, Springfield, IL 62704-1999

When it was announced that the pensionbill would not be voted on before adjourn-ment, we all felt great relief.

It didn’t last long.That’s because, though we stopped the

pension attack for the session, all we re-ally did was buy some time. And not verymuch of it.

Where we areOn the morning after we stopped a bad

pension bill, the state of Illinois was stilllooking at potentially catastrophic finan-cial issues. We didn’t cause them, but theseissues are the responsibility of all Illi-noisans, ourselves included.

The core of the pension problem is $83billion the state of Illinois owes to the state

retirement systems, in-cluding the TRS andSURS.

I want to state againthat the pension debtis not something wecaused. It was causedby the irresponsibleactions of past gover-nors and legislatures.But the problem hascreated great resolveon the part of Gov.Quinn, Speaker Madi-gan, Senate PresidentCullerton and the topRepublican legislativeleaders to enact dras-tic “pension reform.”And, what we haveseen of their ideas sofar is not what any of

Colleagues,ON THE LAST DAY ofthe Illinois General As-sembly’s spring ses-sion, the IEA dodged abullet aimed at thepensions of active andretired participants inTRS and SURS.

It wasn’t luck that caused the miss. It washard work by the entire IEA family — yourelected leaders at the state, region and lo-cal levels, lobbyists, headquarters/PDCstaff, field staff, and, of course, the localmembers who made tens of thousands ofcontacts (emails, phone calls, in-personvisits) with their legislators.

Proposed Cuts in State Budget, FY 2013

$208 Million

$271 Million

$113 Million

K-12 Education Higher Education Healthcare

The budget also fails to replace the discontinued fed-eral stimulus dollars to Medicaid, forcing a massive $1.6billion reduction in General Funds Medicaid appropria-tions through services cuts and increased fees.

Continued on page 3

our members want or should have to accept.

In action on May 30, the state Senatepassed an unfair, and we believe unconsti-tutional, pension bill aimed at the mem-bers of State Employees RetirementSystem (SERS) and General Assembly Re-tirement System (GARS).

With that vote, the Senate was sendinga strong message to all public employeeunions. If we ignore that message, it will beat our own peril.

We must think about what we can/shoulddo that will ensure the pension systems,which are not currently sustainable due tounderfunding, are able to deliver the prom-ised benefits for decades going forward.

Manage change, or be managed?We’ve seen what change looks like when

our ideas and solutions are ignored. Thatis why IEA, as a member of the We Are Onecoalition, has insisted on participating inpension discussions with the legislativeleaders. Through surveys and memberfeedback, we knew going in that IEA mem-bers support IEA leaders in their efforts todevelop fair, constitutional solutions in dis-cussions with state officials.

There are those who would have the en-tire pension debt problem solved via se-vere changes to the pensions of active,retired and future members of the retire-ment systems. What they have proposedis not fair and not constitutional.

But, fair, constitutional change is in ourmembers’ best interests when it helps en-sure every past, current and future IEAmember gets the pension he or she hasbeen promised.

believe quality education is important,who think government has an obligationto fund education properly and care forthose who, through no fault of their own,can’t make it alone? No, it isn’t.

But it’s the truth about the situation weface today.

We need to aggressively work to figureout the best, most fair way to help fix theproblem. As challenging a goal as that maybe, it is a goal that is most worthy of ourvery best efforts — for our retirees, for ourfuture retirees, for education and socialservices, and for the entire state of Illinois.

The IEA and the We Are One coalitionhave not and will not shy away from theresponsibility we share in addressing the pension issues and stabilizing the re-tirement systems on which our membersdepend.

We have made it clear to the governorand to the legislative leaders of bothHouses and parties that we are willing tomake some difficult choices that will benecessary to stabilize the systems, addressour state’s severe financial situation andguarantee that those who work in serviceto our state and its public education insti-tutions will receive with certainty theirrightful pension checks when they retire.

My friends, our organization has a longhistory of meeting difficult challenges andfinding solutions that benefit education,education employees and our state. Weare prepared and committed to do likewiseon these urgent matters of retirement andpensions.

But, fair, constitutionalchange is in our members’best interests when it helpsensure every past, currentand future IEA membergets the pension he or she has been promised.

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Our members have told us repeatedlythat they would be open to paying moreto ensure they receive the pensions theyhave been promised. But they also havemade clear that they want safeguards putin that will, to the extent possible, stabi-lize the retirement systems and stop thestate from diverting money from the sys-tems in the future, thereby causing anothercrisis.

The bottom lineUnless we adjust pensions as part of a

larger strategy for addressing the state’sunderfunding problem, the unsustainablepressure on the state budget will continueto increase. The state’s untenable financialsituation will just get worse — with morecuts to education and other vital stateservices. Legislators will be certain to takeaction on pensions with or without oursupport. Eventually, the voters may beasked to decide whether the constitutionalprotection of state employee pensionsshould be continued or eliminated entirely.

Is that fair to us? Of course not. Is it fair to anyone, including those who

STRONG SCHOOLS • COMMUNITIES • ECONOMY J U LY 2 0 1 2 |3 |

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Washington Middle School

W hen Cecilia Schurman arrived toteach at Washington Middle Schoolin the heart of one of Springfield’s

most troubled neighborhoods in the early90s, the atmosphere of the building was“complete mayhem.”

“There were probably more kids in thehallways than in the classrooms,” she said,noting that as a special education teacher,she was given virtually no tools to teachher students.

Washington Middle School has 616 stu-dents. Of those, 86 percent are free and re-duced lunch, 28 percent are special ed, 43percent are African-American and 46 per-cent are white.

For years, WMS had high failure rates, lowtest scores and numerous other problems.

“It was always considered the ‘roughschool,’” Schurman said. “When I startedhere, I was in for a culture shock. Thereused to literally be riots and fires in thebathroom, toilet paper wars in the hall-ways. The test scores reflected that.”

Eight years ago, something changed. Su-san Palmer became principal. And she,along with several teachers in the school,believed the school could change.

“One of the first problems I had to recog-nize and bring up with staff was that we alldon’t believe students can learn. It was ev-ident in surveys and attitudes among thestaff,” Palmer said. “’Our kids can’t do that.Look at their behavior.’ It was a process oftime that went into that change.”

They decided to take a two-pronged ap-proach: First, get behavior under control.Second, improve academics.

Palmer began assembling teams of teach-ers to do various projects, including oneteam that she sent to Kansas City to ob-serve a program they were using in theirschools. But, those teachers spotted some-thing they thought would be more helpful— BIST — the Behavioral InterventionStrategies Team.

BIST is a multi-level approach to prevent-ing bad behavior and keeping students ina classroom environment should they mis-behave, said Jeremy Champion, a mathteacher at the school. Students stay in aclassroom setting, allowing them to get in-struction of some type no matter what.

“It allows us to partner with the kids, tohelp them instead of allowing them to thinkwe’re against them and help them grow,”he said.

Schurman said that implementing BISTand changing the attitude of the school to-ward academics empowered staff.

“We can make this school whatever wewant to make it. We are in charge. You takecontrol of behavior and you say, ‘This isour new culture. This is how it is. Like it orleave it.’ And you put the message out thereto parents and to the public. And just get-ting that behavior under control hasopened doors, academically.”

Test scores began improving. In 2005,27.4 percent of WMS students met or ex-ceeded state math goals. In 2011, it was 77.2percent. In 2005, 48.2 percent of studentsmet or exceeded state reading goals. In2011, it was 68.3 percent.

A block schedule was put in place. And,teachers began working together in profes-

sional learning communi-ties. These are not plan-ning periods, Palmeremphasized, in the tradi-tional sense, but they aresessions where problemswith students and curricu-lum are addressed daily.

Palmer said she trulybelieves that these learn-ing communities are thekey to improving schools. Champion be-lieves they work.

“We get together and look at what’sworked in the past, what will work thisyear,” he said. “We look at homework as-signments we might want to tier, do form-ative assessments and catch kids whenproblems are small and not after a testwhen we say to a kid, ‘You’ve failed. What’sgoing on?’”

Bonnie Call, Sherry Daniels and SarahSevener all work on a language arts teamtogether. They are enthusiastic about thestrides their school has made and contin-ues to make.

“It’s an atmosphere of high expectation,”Daniels said. “We expect a lot out of ourkids and out of ourselves. We’re not afraidto try new things, to see what’s working.”

And, staff at the school has one goal —student achievement.

Daniels said that if she were readingabout WMS’s changes, she’d be incredu-lous, because students who misbehave ordon’t want to learn are difficult to deal with.

“You have a group of students who areintentional non-learners. Here, in this build-ing, you do it now or you do it later. If youdon’t do it now, we have someplace for yougo to so that you are doing your work dur-ing the school day,” she said.

“You can’t just opt out. There isn’t an optout on your education. There isn’t an optout on being successful in life. You do itnow, or you do it later.”

Teacher enthusiasm combined with stu-dent success makes for a great atmosphere,Champion said.

“When you have a student who has is-sues outside of school and they’re comingto school and enjoying learning, it’s the bestfeeling in the world because you’vechanged that student’s life.”

For more information, contact GailCapps at [email protected].

A teacher-led school turnaround success story

Exclusive atwww.ieanea.org

STRONG SCHOOLS • COMMUNITIES • ECONOMY J U LY 2 0 1 2 |5 |

When anti-union Govs.Scott Walker of Wis-consin and Mitch

Daniels of Indiana were in-vited this spring to ad-dress crowds of people incentral Illinois, IEA andother labor members did-n’t take it lightly.

And they shouldn’t have, cautions oneDanville teacher who, along with his wife,spent three years teaching in North Car-olina, a right-to-work state.

Walker was invited to speak in Springfieldby the Illinois Chamber of Commerce andDaniels by the Champaign County Repub-licans’ at its annual Lincoln Day dinner.

Walker is famous for taking away collec-tive bargaining rights and cutting benefits ofteachers and other employees in Wiscon-sin. Daniels signed right-to-work legislationin Indiana.

In Illinois, education employees get tobargain their contracts locally because ofthe 1970 Collective Bargaining Act.

Matt Skovran and his wife, Jamie, bothsocial studies and science teachers atSouth View Middle School in Danville, knowthat it’s like to work in a state where your

professional fate is taken out of your handsand put into the legislatures.’

“The biggest part is that with collectivebargaining, your contract is dealt with lo-cally with the people you see in school andin the community and the school boardmembers, some we even go to for businessfor different reasons.”

In a right-to-work state, it’s muchdifferent.

“More or less, you have no say in yourcontract,” Skovran said. “It’s handled in thestate Capitol. So, if some type of contrac-tual issue that any community memberthought up — longer school day, teacherraises and teacher cuts — they call theirlocal congressman who then introduces itin the legislature. You have no idea what’sgoing to happen until the governor signsit.”

Skovran felt so strongly about the issuethat he wrote a three-page explanation ofwhat living in a right-to-work state was likeand why they came home to Illinois.

In it, he talked about high attrition ratesin North Carolina, families who could affordit fleeing the public schools, large classsizes, little to no special education for stu-dents who needed it and other issues that

directly affected students.In another situation, teachers in North

Carolina were paid once a month. Legisla-tion eventually passed where lawmakersthought they’d save money by not printingor mailing paychecks during the summermonths, when teachers were not at school.So, teachers ended up getting paid onlynine times a year — by state law.

“This is the fallout in a right-to-work state.The impact is on the worker, the peopleyou’re working for and the kids you’reworking for. They get negatively impactedwhile they’re not even part of the picture,”he said.

He said that by teaching history, he’s hada chance to study why unions started —low pay, long hours.

“It affects your work.It nags at your heartand brain,” he said.“I’m hoping there’senough union strengthamong educators andother public sectorworkers and we standup for what is right andcontrol over our owncontract.”


SPEAKING FROM EXPERIENCEA Danville educator shares his thoughts on teaching in a right-to-work state

IEA activists in Champaign participate inthe “Ditch Mitch” rally held this past May.


IEA Teacher of the Year and NEA Foundation Awardfor Teaching ExcellenceJosh Stumpenhorstis a sixth grade socialscience and languagearts teacher at Lincoln Junior High Schoolin Naperville and is the Illinois State Boardof Education’s teacher of the year and IEA’steacher of the year. Stumpenhorst is an in-novative teacher who is not afraid to usetechnology to engage his students in theclassroom. He writes a blog that keeps himin touch with educators around the world,sharing ideas and expanding his ownknowledge. (Advocate, January 2012)

Education Support Professional of the YearSheila Healy, a teach-ing assistant at Field-crest High School andWenona resident, wasnamed ESP of the yearfor her work promot-ing safe driving. In 2009, Healy became thesponsor of a student community activistgroup called FOCUSED or Fieldcrest Organ-ization of Citizens Undertaking Safe andEducated Driving. Through a grant, Healyis expanding her cru-sade across the stateand country.

Bob HaismanTeacher of the Year AwardKristina Uzzo, a five-year teaching veteranat Freedom Elemen-

Friend of Education Award

Two Illinois legislators were recognized fortheir efforts to improve education in Illinois, Sen. Kimberly Lightford (D-Westchester) and Rep. Brandon Phelps(D-Harrisburg).

Lightford, a longtime proponent of edu-cation reform and issues for the state’syouth, was instrumental in the creation ofSenate Bill 7. In addition, she helped passlandmark anti-bullying legislation and a lawaimed at re-enrolling high school dropouts.She sponsored legislation strengtheningthe Equal Pay Act for women. She sup-ported raising minimum wage and reformsto the state’s payday loan industry.

Phelps has been a longtime supporter ofIEA and in particular helped to sponsor aseries of bills in 2007 that supported ESPs.His nominator said Phelps is readily avail-able to talk to IEA members and to appearin classrooms to help educate students. Inaddition, he intervened during a difficult2008 strike in Hardin County and urgedboth sides to come together to resolvetheir issues.

A W A R D W I N N E R SCongratulations

The 158th annual IEA Representative Assembly was held at the Hilton Chicago March 15-17

tary School in Plainfield, was named the winner of the Bob Haisman TeacherAward for her active leadership with in herlocal, IEA and the National Education Association.

Bob Haisman Student of the Year AwardMatt Hiser, formerpresident of the Park-land College StudentEducation Associa-tion, was recognizedfor his undying workin recruiting new students to the organiza-tion and breathing new life into it by con-centrating on projects to better thecommunity.

Human and CivilRights AwardCharlene Temple, apara-professional inthe pre-kindergartenclass at Mae JemisonSchool in Prairie Hillsand an extraordinarycommunity volunteer, organizing multipleyouth activities for students, volunteeringas a mentor and various other activities

Mary Lou and KeithHauge Award Presented to LindaWalcher of O’Fallonwho is incredibly ac-tive with IEA-Retired,helped with studentteaching and mentor-ing and with the Liv-ing Library project, is vice president of herlocal IEA-Retired chapter and maintains itswebsite.

STRONG SCHOOLS • COMMUNITIES • ECONOMY J U LY 2 0 1 2 |7|

EVERYONE KNOWS someone who hasbeen bullied.

What’s not always clear is how to help.The National Education Association is

hoping to help with its new Bully free: Itstarts with me campaign. The purpose ofthe campaign is to allow school personnelto take a pledge to stop bullying. In return,they get a pin and a poster indicating tostudents that they can be approached andwill help.

There is an abundance of information onthe NEA website at www.nea.org/home/NEABullyFreeSchools.html, includinghow bus drivers, paraprofessionals, cafe-teria workers and other school employeescan play a huge role in the battle to helpkids and combat bullying. After all, manyESPs are in better positions to witness bul-lying than most any other adult.

There is also information on how to helpyour school or community become bullyfree.

The NEA is also promoting the movie“Bully,” a trailer of which is on the website.It’s a heartbreaking documentary aboutbullying and its effects.

It’s a timely issue, as Illinois lawmakersfailed by one vote to pass anti-bullying leg-islation that would have forced schools tospell out how students can file anonymouscomplaints, how complaints would be in-vestigated and what can happen to stu-dents who bully classmates. It also left itup to schools to decide how each require-ment would be met.

The bill’s sponsor said she would bringthe proposal up again in the Novemberveto session.

Here are some tips the NEA offers on thesite:

1. Pay attention.There are many warn-ing signs that may point to a bully-ing problem, such as unexplainedinjuries, lost or destroyed personalitems, changes in eating habits, andavoidance of school or other socialsituations. However, every studentmay not exhibit warning signs, ormay go to great lengths to hide it.This is where paying attention ismost valuable. Engage students ona daily basis and ask open-endedquestions that encourage conversa-tion. �

2. Don’t ignore it. Never assume thata situation is harmless teasing. Dif-ferent students have different levelsof coping; what may be consideredteasing to one may be humiliatingand devastating to another.

3. When you see something — dosomething. Intervene as soon as youeven think there may be a problembetween students. Don’t brush it offas “kids are just being kids. They’llget over it.” Some never do, and it af-fects them for a lifetime.

4. Remain calm. When you intervene,refuse to argue with either student.Model the respectful behavior youexpect from the students. First makesure everyone is safe and that noone needs immediate medical atten-tion. Reassure the students involved,as well as the bystanders. Explain to

them what needs to happen next —bystanders go on to their expecteddestination while the students in-volved should be taken separatelyto a safe place. �

5. Deal with students individually.Don’t attempt to sort out the factswhile everyone is present, don’t al-low the students involved to talkwith one another, and don’t ask by-standers to tell what they saw infront of others. Instead, talk with theindividuals involved — including by-standers — on a one-on-one basis.This way, everyone will be able totell their side of the story withoutworrying about what others maythink or say. �

6. Don’t make the students involvedapologize and/or shake hands onthe spot. Label the behavior as bul-lying. Explain that you take this typeof behavior very seriously and thatyou plan to get to the bottom of itbefore you determine what shouldbe done next and any resulting con-sequences based on your school’santi-bullying policy. This empowersthe bullied child — and the by-standers — to feel that someone willfinally listen to their concerns andbe fair about outcomes. �

7. Hold bystanders accountable. By-standers provide bullies an audi-ence, and often actually encouragebullying. Explain that this type of be-havior is wrong, will not be tolerated,and that they also have a right anda responsibility to stop bullying.

8. Listen and don’t pre-judge. It is verypossible that the person you suspectto be the bully may actually be a bul-lied student retaliating or a “bully’s”cry for help. It may also be the resultof an undiagnosed medical, emo-tional or psychological issue.

9. Get appropriate professional help.Be careful not to give any advice be-yond your level of expertise. Referthe student to a nurse, counselor,school psychologist, social worker,or other appropriate professional. �

10. Become trained to handle bullyingsituations. If you work with studentsin any capacity, it is important tolearn the proper ways to addressbullying.

It startswith me

BULLY FREE:


In many ways, the 2012 legislativesession was representative of atypical election cycle session.

What do I mean by that? Well, it goessomething like this. There is a lot of talkabout tackling big issues coupled with thefear that any major and or controversialvote could have a residual effect in theform of a campaign flyer in the months im-mediately following session and into thefall. So, as a precaution, not too many hardvotes are taken and those that are seem tohave a bipartisan roll call, so that no onehas the upper hand. While there weresome minor deviations from that formula,it was pretty much business as usual.

The General Assembly first had to gettheir hands around the budget. After Gov.Pat Quinn’s budget address, it was prettyclear that this session was going to beabout keeping what you had rather thanto get anything new. As they did last year,the House began the budget process byhandcuffing themselves with a revenueprojection significantly lower than thenumbers the Governor was using. In theend, this would mean that they would beforced to make cuts more severe than theircounterparts in the Senate. At the end ofthe day, K-12 education saw a reductionslightly less than 4 percent.

Then came the parade of tough issuesthat needed to be addresses. And, in keep-ing with the election-year formula, therewere just a few items that were really atthe top of the list: Pensions and Medicaid.

On the issue of Medicaid, I will have togive the General Assembly credit for get-ting it done. They approved a bipartisanpackage of Medicaid reforms that reducedMedicaid liabilities by $1.6 billion. Morespecifically, the proposal included $1.36billion in benefit cuts and $240 million inprovider rate reductions. Governor Quinnhas pledged to sign it.

Another major issue was gaming. This isa big-ticket item that has lingered for yearsand has become more geographically par-tisan. This piece that had been brewingthroughout the session finally came to lifeduring the final hours of the legislative

a more limited reform that was only appli-cable to state employees and members ofthe General Assembly. The bill passed theSenate but was never called in the House.This might be the one vote that seemed adeparture from the usual election cycle formula. Senate leaders had their memberstake a vote on a controversial bill that wasnot called in the House. I guess time willtell whether or not constituents will be reading about that vote in election material.

For IEA, the time between now and theveto session, scheduled for the end of No-vember, gives us an opportunity to re-group and formally present a pensionreform proposal that meets our criteria forconstitutionality, fairness and system sus-tainability. Your tireless phone calls andemails during the session made it possiblefor us to live another day. Thank you andbe at the ready!

Legislative session pitted big issuesagainst re-election concerns; pensionsstill an issue By Jim Reed, Director of Government Relations

IEA Lobbyist Janette Weatherall engagesSen. John O. Jones (R-Mt. Vernon) in conversation during one of the May We Are One coalition statehouse rallies.

session. The final piece included a Chicagocasino to be operated by a Chicago CasinoDevelopment Authority appointed by themayor. Most of the casino revenues wouldgo to Chicago, but it has four new river-boat licenses for Rockford, Park City (nextto Waukegan), Danville and the south sub-urbs of Cook County as well as gaming atthe state’s six horse racing tracks. Mostimportantly, the bill will provide nearly$200 million new dollars for education.

And last, but certainly not least, was themulti-tiered pension reform debate. Therewas really one proposal that emerged, withvariations depending upon which cham-ber it was introduced in. House SpeakerMike Madigan’s began by promoting a plan(SB 1673) that would have shifted pensioncosts from the income tax pocket to theproperty tax pocket. After not being ableto win over the House Republicans to sup-port his proposal, the Speaker relinquishedcontrol of the issue, leaving it in the lap ofMinority Leader Tom Cross. By the end ofsession, the bill had still not been calledfor a vote.

On the other side of the Capitol building,the Senate moved forward with HB 1447,


EVERYONE KNOWS one of thosefamilies: The parents are doctors and theyspawn doctors. There are families withthree generations of police officers or fire-fighters, and families full of teachers, too.

The Gabric family could go head-to-headwith any of them.

Kaity Gabric is studying to be an earlychildhood special education teacher atEastern Illinois University and won one ofthis year’s college scholarships at the IEARepresentative Assembly.

Her mom knew from an early age thatKaity would be a teacher, as did her grand-mother.

“My mom and I both, without saying any-thing to her, told each other Kaity wouldbe a teacher,” said Kaity’s mother, Kath-leen Gabric.

Of course they knew. Kathleen and Kath-leen’s mother are also teachers.

In fact, all four of Kathleen’s grandpar-ents were teachers at some point. And,three of Kaity’s are. They can trace theireducators’ lineage back to at least 1900when Elizabeth Emay Stewart received herteacher’s certificate in Mays, Indiana.

“Then, if you passed a test, you got to bea teacher,” Kathleen Gabric said. “Shetaught in a one-room schoolhouse. She gotmarried and had to quit. Her daughter, mygrandmother, Ruby Stewart Beabout, hadto go to school for two years, taught in a

one-room schoolhouse and once she gotmarried, she had to quit.”

But time passed and Ruby was able toreturn to the classroom. She taught thirdgrade. Her husband was the principal ofthe school. She eventually earned a four-year degree, as requirements changed.

Their daughter, Jane Beabout Mohan,went to school to become a doctor. Whilegoing to school, she realized all she reallywanted to do was teach. On much thesame path, Kathleen went to school to be-come a biology researcher and came to theconclusion … oh, you already guessed it.

Kathleen is an honors biology teacher atHinsdale Central high School where she’sbeen teaching for 24 years. Before that, shetaught three years in Waukeegan.

Is it something in the genes?“I’m not sure. There has to be. I do be-

lieve, that to some extent, teachers areborn, not made,” Kathleen said.

Kaity said that whether genetics play arole is unclear, but the way she’s beenraised to feel about education has defi-nitely been a factor.

“The way we grew up is that we’ve beentaught to value our education. It’s always

All in thefamily

been my focus. I was in school to learn. Ihave had some great teachers growing upwho have influenced me,” she said.

She’s had the added benefit of hearingher mother share stories and enthusiasmfor the craft of teaching.

“Every day is different. Even though I’vebeen doing it for 26 years, there’s alwayssomething new you can try. Every kid isdifferent. Every combination of kids is dif-ferent. Kids have an enthusiasm and it rubsoff on you,” said Kathleen.

“It’s fun! It is fun. I think that’s it.”It’s not always easy, Kathleen noted — with

retirement up in the air andso many people ready tobash education at everyturn.

“They want us to beeverything to their childbut then don’t value that.They are willing to pay a carmechanic more per hour tofix a car than educate achild,” she quipped.

“You could go into a jobwhere you make a lot of money, but ifyou’re not happy, who cares?”


Top left to right: Lizzie Emay Stewart, Jane Beabout Mohar and Kathleen and KaityGabric. Bottom: Ruby Stewart Beabout.

Grade school knitting program

builds pride, community


tern. I told them they could knit during cer-tain portions of their instructional time aslong as they paid attention and didn’t letthe knitting become a distraction. I hopedit would settle them down.”

At about the same time, the art teacherat school, Kathy Leeseberg, was also intro-ducing knitting into her creative curricu-lum. She, too, had ordered some knittingspools and yarn for the art club and hadintroduced knitting to her students as ameans of creative expression.

Student enthusiasm for their knittingprojects followed quickly. Everyone at theschool, including the parents and princi-pal, sees the benefits.

“The students are truly engaged withtheir knitting,” said John Gustafson, interimprincipal at the school. “They love to showtheir work. It helps them settle down andcontrol their actions. One little guy evenknitted me a cap that I wore on the play-ground throughout the winter. He was soproud, and so was I.”

Since then, with help from the two teach-ers, knitting as a practice in the school hasgrown steadily.

Some students work on knitting everyday. Because there are only so many loomsto go around, the teachers have taught thestudents how to finger knit so all can par-ticipate even when a loom is not available.Friendly competitions among siblings havestarted. Student-made knit caps andscarves have become fashion statements.

Banek says the obvious instructionalbenefit of the knitting, for many students,is that it helps them settle down and con-centrate during “listening” portions of in-structional time. But, she says, there havebeen many other benefits that she neverexpected.

“We’ve had some children connect innew ways with their mothers and grand-mothers who have shown them newstitches and even how to use needles inknitting,” Banek said. “We’ve engaged the

parents at conferences who want to knowwhere to buy looms. Some students evenasked for looms and yarn for Christmaspresents. We’ve had students helping eachother, teaching each other, learning fromeach other. It’s really been amazing.”

Leeseberg, too, sees the great benefitsto the school and especially to her art students.

“For many of our students, the knittinghas been a beautiful form of their self-ex-pression,” said Leeseberg. “Many of ourstudents are on free and reduced lunchprograms. Knitting is relatively inexpen-sive. It’s something they can do for them-selves without a lot of equipment,something they can teach with pride totheir siblings. It really gives them a senseof accomplishment.”

Though there are instructional times inwhich knitting in Banek’s first-grade classis prohibited — such as when studentsneed to use their hands — she tries toleave it to the students to decide when it isand is not appropriate for them to knit.

“I sometimes have six to eight studentsknitting at a time,” she said. “As long asthey can pay attention, it’s OK with me.”

One of her star knitting students, seven-year-old Katie Ballew, says knitting is oneof her favorite things about school.

“It’s awesome because you get to makea hat or a scarf,” she said. “I made a hat formy kitty but now it’s for my baby doll. Mykitty doesn’t like hats on his head.”

First-grader Isael Huitron agrees.“It’s fun because you get

to make stuff you nevermade before,” he said. “Imade a hat. My parentsdidn’t believe it. Theywere very proud.”

“As well they shouldbe,” said Banek.

More photos at:www.ieanea.org

Teacher Gail Banek demonstrates knittingtechniques to students Jashua Pacheco andEman Ali.W hen first-grade teacher Gail Banek

invited her students to bring outthe yarn and do some knitting dur-

ing class time, she had no idea what kindof a trend she was starting.

She certainly does now.The knitting adventure at Greenbrook El-

ementary School in Keeneyville District 20(Hanover Park) started about four yearsago when Banek first introduced knittingto her students as part of an effort to calmthem and keep them from being too fidg-ety during certain class times. Since thenher students in successive years havetaken knitting to entirely new levels.

This year’s class has been packed withthe most prolific group of knitters ever.And even now when the weather is warm,you can find samples of the students’handiwork throughout Banek’s class andthe school.

“I just can’t believe how it’s spread,” saidBanek. “The students are always so excitedabout it. They take real pride in their work.It helps them focus and learn during classtime. It’s really connected them with eachother and their families.”

Banek has been a teacher for 38 years.She’s a member of the Keeneyville Educa-tion Association, has served in the past aslocal president and negotiator, and cur-rently serves as secretary for IEA Region33 Council.

She says the knitting idea came to herwhen she had a small group of particularlyhigh-energy first graders, a class of stu-dents who needed to keep their handsbusy in order to stay out of trouble. As anexperiment, she decided to bring a coupleof knitting looms from her home to school,just to see if some creative handiworkcould help the students engage and focusduring classroom time.

“I had a couple of students who, if theirhands weren’t busy, were causing havoc,”she said. “So I pulled out the knitters andshowed them how to make a simple pat-

S U M M E R L E A D E R S H I P AC A D E M Y AG E N DAI L L I N O I S S T A T E U N I V E R S I T Y

Day 1, Tuesday, July 247:30 a.m.............................Conference registration begins

and Continental Breakfast8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. ..........................SLA Schools begin

• Association Effectiveness• Association Representative (AR) School• Bargaining Behaviors: Processes and Impacts• Best Practices for Teaching and Learning• Emerging Leaders• Grievance• Preparing to Bargain• School Finance• SPARKS Training• Strategic Communications• Problem-Solving Skills for Experienced Negotiators

Noon - 1:00 p.m. ...................................... Lunch provided5:00 p.m. - 7:05 p.m............................. Pizza and a Movie

The Pursuit of Happyness with an exclusive video introduction to the film by Chris Gardner

Day 2, Wednesday, July 257:30 a.m. ............................Continental Breakfast8:30 a.m. - 11:45 a.m. .... SLA Schools continue11:45 a.m. - 1:45 p.m. ..Organizational Priorities ............................................Summit and Lunch

Keynote: Chris Gardner1:45 - 4:30 p.m. ..............................SLA Schools continue5:00 - 6:00 p.m. .................... Wine and Cheese Reception6:00 p.m. ............................................ Dinner on your own

Day 3, Thursday, July 267:30 a.m. ..............................................Continental Breakfast8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. ..................Presidents Schools beginTaming the Lions, Walking the Tightrope, and Avoiding theKnife-Throwers: Basic and Advanced Presidents SchoolsNoon - 1:00 p.m. ...................................... Lunch provided4:30 - 6:00 p.m. ....Cocktail and Hors d’oeuvres Reception

— Board of Directors and Presidents

Day 4, Friday, July 277:30 a.m............................................... Continental Breakfast8:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. ............ Presidents Schools continue1:00 p.m. .......................................... 2012 SLA concludes

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February 24-25, 2012To have the dues for 2012-13 at $427 for every full-time certified member, and$214 for every full-time ESP.

As required by Board Policies, a roll call vote was taken and is recorded as follows:

Voting Yes (67): Almgreen, Austin, Bailey, Beaulieu, Borge, Bradish, Brave, Ann Brooks,Frank Brooks, Brown, Carnall-Freaner, Heim for Collette, Courson, Darin, Dwan, Engfer,Everding, Grimes, Gunn, Hagemaster, Hiatt, Hile, Horne, Hoynes, Ivey, Jesuit, Johnson,Kaplan, Kurtzhals, Lartz, Love, Lucke, Mayer for Ludden, Mahrt, Matariyeh, McCleary,McMillon, Mikos, Miller, Moore, O’Donnell, Olofson, Flowers for Peoples, Pinzker, Pomykala,Reppen-Lucas, Ruggless, Schultz, Sernus, Meneghetti for Sholtis, Siegel, Stewart, Stodola,Susberry Hill, Travis, Tucker, Tully, Turner, Valenta, Wallace, Waltmire, Washington, Weber,Westerman, Wycislak, Vice President Griffin, and President Klickna.

Voting No (14): Blade, Cassens-Mickle, Clark, Conro, DeFalco, Henry, Klausing, McGinness,Meyer, Partridge, Piechocinski, Sexton, Sheehan, and Shiller.

Absent (9): Heindricks, Marks, Palombit, Rahman, Ricks, Tudor, Veach, Zumbrook, andLlorens.

THE MOTION CARRIED.

March 14, 2012To adopt the 2012-2013 budget and set the dues at $422 for every full-time certi-fied member and $211 for every full-time ESP.

As required by Board Policies, a roll call vote was taken and is recorded as follows:

Voting Yes (75): Almgreen, Bailey, Beaulieu, Borge, Bradish, Brave, Ann Brooks, FrankBrooks, Carnall-Freaner, Collette, Courson, DeFalco, Dwan, Engfer, Everding, Grimes, Gunn,Hagemaster, Henry, Hiatt, Hile, Horne, Hoynes, Ivey, Harris for Jesuit, Johnson, Kaplan,Kurtzhals, Lartz, Love, Lucke, Ludden, Mahrt, Marks, Matariyeh, McCleary, McMillon, Meyer,Mikos, Miller, Moore, O’Donnell, Olofson, Piechocinski, Pinzker, Pomykala, Rahman, Reppen-Lucas, Ricks, Hiser for Ruggless, Schultz, Sernus, Sheehan, Dawson for Shiller, Sholtis,

Siegel, Stewart, Stodola, Susberry Hill, Travis, Tudor, Tully, Turner, Valenta, Veach, Wallace,Waltmire, Washington, Weber, Westerman, Wycislak, Zumbrook, Secretary-Treasurer Llorens,Vice President Griffin, and President Klickna.

Voting No (8): Blade, Cassens-Mickle, Clark, Conro, Klausing, McGinness, Partridge, andSexton.

Abstained (1): Brown.

Absent (6): Austin, Darin, Heindricks, Palombit, Peoples, and Tucker.

THE MOTION CARRIED.

May 18-19, 2012For authorization for the leadership to move ahead on behalf of our members, toproceed as discussed in Executive Session.

A roll call vote was taken and is recorded as follows:

Voting Yes (68): Almgreen, Austin, Bailey, Beaulieu, Borge, Ann Brooks, Frank Brooks,Brown, Clark, Collette, Conro, Darin, DeFalco, Dwan, Engfer, Everding, Grimes, Triplett forHenry, Hiatt, Hile, Horne, Hoynes, Ivey, Kaplan, Kurtzhals, Lartz, Love, Lucke, Ludden, Mahrt,Young for Matariyeh, McCleary, Meyer, Mikos, Miller, Moore, O’Donnell, Madson for Olofson,Palombit, Partridge, Flowers for Peoples, Piechocinski, McGrath for Pinzker, Pomykala,Rahman, Reppen-Lucas, Ruggless, Schultz, Sheehan, Shiller, Siegel, Stewart, Susberry Hill,Leikin for Travis, Tucker, Tudor, Tully, Turner, Valenta, Veach, Wallace, Waltmire, Weber,Westerman, Wycislak, Zumbrook, Vice President Griffin, and President Klickna.

Voting No (9): Bradish, Brave, Cassens-Mickle, Courson, Hagemaster, McGinness, Ricks,Sernus, and Sexton.

Abstained (0)

Absent (13): Blade, Carnall-Freaner, Gunn, Heindricks, Jesuit, Johnson, Klausing, Marks,McMillon, Sholtis, Stodola, Washington, and Llorens.

THE MOTION CARRIED.


IEA Board of Directors Roll Call Votes

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Summer 2012 Advocate

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