I would like to know if it is true that the new Special Education Director, Ellen Belotti, you know, the one that was paid while the old SED (Colleen Schultz) was banished from District Office (while taxpayers paid TWO salaries) is "resigning." If so, I am once again astonished by certain members of the current board. All District 135 voters should attend the School Board Candidate Meet and Greet at 6:30 at Jerling Jr. High. on Wednesday, March 13th. Please make an informed decision and get out the vote!

It wouldn't be the first time this school board has hired someone and then we find the person "resigning" from that position. I seriously question the judgement of this board. Apparently they question their own judgements, of which they had ample time to make. Voters can also make change happen.

Please vote in the April 9th election. Vote out incumbents Ann Gentile and Tom Cunningham who have done their part to WASTE taxpayer dollars! Go to the Candidate Meet and Greet at Jerling on Wednesday. Be informed. Voter apathy got our school district into this dire state. Change the mix of the school board and you will see things get better with candidates who actually care about taxpayers and our children!

Check out the candidates profiles from last week's Trib Local (page 9): http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-03-04/news/ct-tl-0307-district-135-election-20130304_1_laura-s-berry-quality-education-board-member

Kate... RIGHT ON! As a matter of fact vote out ALL incumbents, D135, D230, the Library Trustees and Fire!! Know before you vote! Read statements. Read fluff answers vs. real answers. Who answers what and who evades giving information. Gentile nor Cunningham will have my vote, nor anyone in my large OP family!

Citizen of Orland Park ...We should consider the Trustees election as " The love for our children election " Yes, we owe to the chidren to elect responsible people and throw out all the incumbents who have betrayed our trust.These incumbents have brought the Chicago-styled political machine to our Board. Let us re-establish the integrity and the pride of our Board.
Our children will be grateful.
LJ

Carol Kunst is resigning at the end of the school year, which is in line with her contract as an interim superintendent. She will be leaving when Janet Stutz takes on.

Wow...less than a year as special ed director after spending a year "shadowing" Colleen Schultz. With regard to Theresa Kettwig, I actually worked in her classroom several times years ago and found her to be absolutely wonderful with the students. I cannot say that about all the special ed/self contained classroom teachers at Park! I am shocked that she needed to resign. She was one of the best. Is it true that paras were fired due to this incident as well?

I agree. Everyone should know who the incumbents are and vote them all out of office. Village trustees, fire district trustees, and school board. I'm tired of the city politics in Orland!!!

Why would elected board members walk out of a meeting? You are elected. If you can't handle the debate then resign.

This sounds like another joke of a boards decision in these forced resignations. There is more to these BS allegations than reported, There was NO abuse at all, I can't wait till this whole story will be released, this current board will look like a joke. Again the current board just shooting from their hip. Not even the board can get along and come up with a decision, one walks out of the meeting and two others can't agree with the others, TIME FOR CHANGE, WE NEED A NEW BOARD

I was at the meeting last night and there was a lot of gossip after the meeting from parents and other attendants that these resignations were the result of politically motivated pressure from the school board, rather than accusations of abuse. This boards wants the public to think they did a good thing here, there was no grounds for this and they know it. What a coincidence it was around election time.

Well, the decision should be easy. Vote out incumbents Gentile, Cunningham, and Bragg. Nathan the nurse is one of Ann's people so don't vote for him either. That leave 4 candidates for 4 open seats. Vote for Berry, Kulak, Carroll and Maratea! If we all do it, they can win and the board can finally work together. Carmody and Zekich will be outnumbered and Reiniche will lose his power base.

As a tenured teacher with a strong union behind you, a teacher only resigns when guilty (of something), otherwise you fight to the end to clear your name. Park School is a wonderful place full of loving, caring, dedicated professionals. This situation is in the EC department which is NOT Park School.

Yeah, yeah BOTH CONCERNED P & T, you both are also clueless. maybe you both should run for the board also. You honestly believe this board didn't threaten these employees with being terminated?? Your crazy, put in the situation of being FIRED v. Resignation is a very very difficult decision, even being innocent. you both obviously have little or no info on this case. Educate yourselves before the mud starts flying.

It's appalling to see how many people are completely disregarding the fact that there are innocent children involved in all of this. Teachers are supposed to protect their students, not bully or endanger them in any way. The teachers union is doing a wonderful job protecting all the wrong people. These children need to be looked after and sadly they have not been. It took far too long for these parents to learn about the situation, which leads me to believe that something was being hidden. For them to be told "we cannot tell you" is unacceptable. I agree with "Concerned Taxpayer" something did happen or they would not have resigned. This is sickening. I will be voting for Gentile, Cummingham and Bragg, I say vote out the ones that are not looking out for our children's well being.

"The Ville" you probably have even less information then you pretend to have. Your speculation and conjecture are just as meaningless as all the "mud flying". Had you been at the meeting last night you would know that the parents of the autistic child were called into the closed session and were exposed to all the evidence of abuse/neglect. Had you been at the Board Meeting you would have heard the impassioned pleas for information from the parents of those effected.
"The Ville," I ask this of you. What facts do you think you possess? What more do you think you know then the parents of the abused autistic child? What "investigation" have you conducted? Please tell us? Please list the names and conversations with witnesses that you have interviewed. Please state your conclusion of you interview and why criminal charges are or not warranted, why a civil lawsuit is or is not warranted, why the Boards response is or is not warranted. Please tell us why your omnicient views are fact.
Don't you get it, the focus is being lost on politicians and not the issue. A child is at stake!! No child is a political bargaining tool.

Great post LJS, no child should ever be a bargaining tool in any situation. As soon as I child's well being is endangered we all have to realize the seriousness in all of this regardless of political beliefs... I thought more people would agree with me on this and sadly I'm learning that this is not the case. It's time to put feelings aside and start looking out for our children.

Get on drinking the boards Kool Aid LJS

Keep on drinking the boards Kool Aid, auto correct...

LaMargo is a disappointment. He walks out of a meeting and ignores his duty as an elected official. Only a coward walks out.

The abuse or neglect of a child can have devastating effects on children and their families, as can false allegations and lack of knowledge. The way that this allegation was handled was egregious. The agony the parents suffered from the lack of information given to them is horrible. I'm equally bothered by the fact that anyone, at anytime, for any reason can accuse you of something as horrible as child abuse and ruin your entire life. If the district had any proof or evidence of abuse they would have unanimously voted to fire the teacher. It is my opinion that there are many victims here, I am very sorry for all of them.

I'm reading this with 26 comments posted and feelings running high on both sides, can anyone tell me how many people voted in the last two school board elections?

You may just have your answer to what is going to happen before you bust a blood vessel.

Common sense is needed!

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I agree some board members need to go - but this situation has very little to do with the board. The board's role is to decide what is best for the children. In this case, not having that teacher in a classroom is the best result - whether by firing or her resignation. This is about the children and that is where the focus should stay.

Hey Orland Park D135: Wake Up!
Along with your concerns regarding the dysfunction of your BOE, you are about to feel the wrath of one of the worst administrators of all time, your newly crowned Superintendent Janet Stutz. You think things are bad now, just wait until she assumes her thrown as of July 1 with a new BOE. We in District 181 are grateful to your BOE for hiring her away from us!

Kate - The Trib Local is reporting that Gentile wanted the teacher FIRED!

I was going by the above article. Ben, can you confirm how Gentile voted for the teacher's dismissal as well as the special ed director's dismissal?

With regard to Kalinski, he was given the option of retiring or being fired. He clashed with the business manager.

It amazes me to see and hear about such ruthless treatment of people.

School board members stand high on their soap boxes complaining about bullying in the classroom vowing to put an end to it.

I think they need to start by example and stop being bullies at the board level.

Was that teacher that was accused tenured?

From personal knowledge, T. Kettwig is a remarkable teacher. She is one who is knowledgable, student-oriented, and cares more about her students than some there!

Remember folks, you are only getting part of the story. First of all, if Ellen is resigning, doesn't that imply that she must have been pretty involved in the situation? If she didn't know, she'd be claiming she had no clue. What was Theresa told to say?

Yes, we all agree the parents should have been made aware. Whether the child is verbal or nonverbal, a child is a child.

Food for thought? Look at the student to staff ratio at Orland within the self-contained programs (and local public schools). The staff is grossly outnumbered by students with disabilities that are severe and profound. Before you go blaming D135 for staffing, remember State of Illinois forgets to pay the districts. Must be nice. Furthermore, Special Education funding keeps getting cut.

I HIGHLY DOUBT Kettwig was neglectful. I'd put money on that. Was she short-staffed? Probably. Imagine yourself in a classroom with students that may be displaying behaviors, rotating in the bathroom, and the chaos of four year olds in general. You have to have extra eyes, ears, and hands all over. Now teach them all. She's probably bring forced into resignation and that's horrible because she is a remarkable teacher. In that position, you don't teach because of a paycheck. You LOVE what you do so you teach. Stay strong, Theresa.

Don't be surprised if at Thursday nights meeting, Cunningham/Gentile pull one of their stunts. Don't be surprised if their plants sign in and then start singing their praises.

Watch who speaks during "Citizens Remarks". Tom did this when he ran for the Village when he was trying to clear his name, after it came out that he had his record expunged. For those of you at the meeting....watch who signs in, and then listen to see if they start campaigning. You will know.....

Also, Wouldn't it be a strange turn of events if a certain sibling
showed up?

Let's talk a/b the kids in that classroom. My kid, he is in that classroom. Theresa was taken out of that classroom as well as the aides. These are autistic & spec needs kids who don't transition well when even the slightest change happens. What happened to the welfare of kids coming first?! After NOT receiving a call from district 135 a/b the situation and being called by another parent, I had to call the district the next day myself. Then I was told they had the wrong number. Am I stupid?! My cell as well as my husband's cell numbers are on the emergency cards. Oops must have been an oversight...it's only my autistic son who is nonverbal that I needed to figure out what his inconsoleable meltdown was about b/c I had no clue all of his teachers were gone. And how did district 135 handle the delicate matter, putting our kids first?! By putting a sub who is not a special ed teacher in there. When I asked if the sub was a spec ed teacher, I was lied to and told yes. Oops again 135, I know her personally, she is not. I begged to at least have one aide stay for familiarity until the new teacher would be in place. Someone who knows the kids, the kids know her, someone who knows their routine. But no, it didn't happen. So how is my son affected by this...more daily inconsoleable meltdowns, now sleepless nights w/ crying fits, having to be ripped out of the car to go to school. All new behaviors. Yes, I pay over $10,000 in taxes here. This has been devastating...

I personally have known Mrs. Kettwig for over 20 years and although I'm not sure of what went on in the classroom I can say that she is a wonderful person and would never intentionally put anyone's child In danger. I would 100% trust her with my kids any day. She loves her job and her kids in the classroom. I feel bad for her that she is was made to resign. Like Teach said stay strong Theresa. We love you and are on your side bc we know you are a great person and teacher!! They were lucky to have you for so many years. Their loss is someone else's gain!!

One disgusted Mom- it is disgusting that your family is just more collateral damage caused by the decision makers in power at the school district. I applaud you for speaking out because it's not right and I am sorry for your experience. I hope things get better soon for the children affected. There is another board meeting tonight, there may be further fallout.

Teach - THIS IS ABOUT CHILDREN. We are getting only a part of the story – the part where all these people are ignoring the children and going on and on about how they think that the teacher is innocent. You highly doubt the teacher was neglectful – well, I have no doubt that she is guilty of some wrong doing. Again, if she were innocent she would have not resigned and instead would have let the district fire her so that she could fight the charges. She made her choice to resign, so she gave up her right to fight. She may have felt that she was “forced” to resign if the union told her that they would not represent her because of her actions and told her that the best option was to resign. If that is the case, an innocent person would still not resign – they would hire their own attorney and fight. We all have free choice – I hardly doubt that anyone held a gun to her head and forced her to do anything including resign. Interesting that you want to shift the blame from the teacher to the Special Ed Director, the state, the aides and staffing issues, from what I have heard that was the teacher’s MO as well. Is what happened in that classroom neglect/abuse or gross unprofessional behavior? Either way, the children are better off.

Thank you for the kind words. 135 did find a spec ed teacher to finish the year. She observed one day, Friday, and started Monday. The aides who replaced our original ones are staying, I guess. We are still trying to cope/adjust with yet now another transition. I cannot tell you emotionally how much this whole situation has taken a toll on my family. And yes, I have YET to hear from 135 as far as what transpired in the classroom or at the least, what the allegations are. Can u imagine where your imagination goes without knowing for all this time?! I can't ask my 4 year old nonverbal son! I had to read in the Tribune yesterday something about soap. Shouldn't we have been called into a meeting to hear first?! It is our children for heaven's sake!

Looking to move to Orland and I have a special needs child that will need to be in a self contained classroom and advice on the services? Are they good? Having a hard time pin pointing the best district, that is affordable to live in!