Schools
Protestors Rally Behind D135 Secretary Forced Out of New Job
A 15-year district staffer was told the school board was "unhappy" with her promotion and she could either resign from her new post or return to her old job without filing complaints.
Melanie Walsh arrived for work on Sept. 21 and prepared for a day like any other. Within hours she was suspended and told to leave.
Three months earlier, after 15 years as a paraprofessional at , she was promoted to secretary of student services.
On her last morning with the district, she was called into Superintendent Paul Howell’s office, along with the school system's attorney and her union representative. Howell allegedly told Walsh the board had been “unhappy with the hiring process” and gave her two options: return to her former position or resign.
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“I was absolutely, 100 percent blind-sided,” Walsh said as she stood outside the District 135 Board of Education meeting on Monday.
Several hundred people filled Monday night’s meeting room to voice discontent with the board’s decision on Walsh’s job.
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A district employee described the actions against Walsh to be “more vindictive than anything.”
Several sources within the school district told Patch that the attempt to force Walsh out of her job stems from her being related to Colleen Schultz, assistant superintendent of student services, and that board member Ann Gentile made the initial push for Walsh to leave the district.
Some claim a friend of Gentile had applied for the job and didn't get it, while others said Schultz purposely distanced herself from the hiring process. When asked by Patch, Gentile declined comment on the allegations.
Walsh said she couldn’t imagine being faulted for following the board’s own hiring process. What’s more, she interviewed several times for the position and has received excellent evaluations with the district thus far, she said.
The Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT) filed a grievance against the district last week for asking Walsh to waive her union rights by returning to her old position and for suspending her with pay for longer than 10 days, according to Eve Bukowski, a union steward for the district.
“The termination of this employee is not for cause,” she said with several hundred cheering supporters, including Walsh, at her back. “The collective bargaining agreement has been completely ignored and this is a blatant disregard for the value of not one dedicated 15-year employee, but a blatant disregard for all 638 employees I represent.”
After the meeting, board member Joe LaMargo said he agreed with Bukowski, though he refused to delve into the details of the board’s closed-door discussions on the issue.
“We can’t argue with any of those points,” LaMargo said. “It was posted correctly, she applied for the position … she was recommended, she fit all the qualifications, and she’s been doing the job. There shouldn’t be one penny of taxpayer money wasted on this.”
Bukowski said the Orland Council Educators are prepared to take legal action “at whatever cost" out of its own pockets and "however long it takes."
Walsh and two representatives from IFT were present during the board’s closed-door meeting on Monday night. The board ruled for Walsh to return to her old job, with members John Carmody, Tom Cunningham, Tina Zekich and Gentile voting in favor. Board members Mary Bragg, Lynne Donegan and LaMargo voted against transferring her back to her former paraprofessional position.
Neither Walsh nor any board members made comment after the decision was announced Tuesday morning.
