Emotions Run High at FPS Board of Education Meeting
By Gordon Hopkins
While rumored student protests never materialized, the meeting of the Fairbury Public School Board of Education was still unusual, with several sometimes emotional speakers.
The meeting was held in the gymnasium of the 47 Building rather in the conference room due to the large crowd, approximately 30 on the floor in chairs and more up in the bleachers. Five individuals signed up to speak during the comment period, including teachers and a student.
Amy Engle-Evans, social studies teacher, was unhappy that Superintendent Dr. Devin Embray and Board President Angie Judd, talked about contract negotiations in open session during a school board meeting, “As everyone knows, there are two sides to every story.”
“Anyone that has ever been involved in any sort of negotiations can recognize that, at times, things will be tense, but when you call people unprofessional in open board meetings and it’s put it in the newspaper, it does become personal. Our negotiators tried multiple times to sit at the table to negotiate in good faith, and the Board of Education and Dr. Embray decided to call their lawyers and told us that all communication must go through them and their law firm at KSB, this has never been done in the past and has cost the district a lot of money. Well, maybe this took the board out of a tense situation. It did not do that to the teachers. The communication with Bobby Truhe at KSB was full of ultimatums and threats, which feels far more unprofessional than some tense conversations at the table.”
A story about contract negotiations was published in last week’s issue. FJN had reached out to the Federal Education Association (FEA) but did not receive a response.
Engle-Evans said, “I can tell you right now that the way this has been handled negotiations and has portrayed the teachers to the public, it’s not helping our climate and culture at our district right now.”
Another teacher, Natalie Traylor, express concern about the impact of numerous changes, “I am here to discuss the profound impact that changes in administration, staff and policies can have on the mental health of teachers, the needs and concerns of parents, and perhaps most personally, the challenges faced by teachers who are also parents, change is inevitable. I know that in any organization, but in education, where stability and trust are cornerstones of success, abrupt or frequent changes can create significant challenges for educators.”
Jerome “Jerry” Smith, a patron, held a different point of view, “If you don’t like the way things are going, there are other places to go. That’s true. It doesn’t mean that you’re being disrespected. Change is hard. It’s not easy to have somebody say, we’re going to do it different than we did before.”
Dr. Larry Winter said, “When I walk through a cow lot and I step in a pile, I know what I stepped in, and there’s a big pile here. Now, when you give someone an ultimatum, either fall in line or turning your resignation, I’m seeing a problem. When you’re losing good teachers, maybe y’all need to go home tonight and think real hard about that.”
“My wife and I moved in here in ‘83,” said Dr. Winter. “If I was looking today, I’d have set up my practice someplace else. It sure wouldn’t be here.”
The final speaker was student Daniel Creekbaum, “I do know that teachers are feeling replaceable and, personally, I do not feel like that is the right image that Fairbury Jeffs should be putting out there for their employees or their students. I thought Fairbury was a family where we supported one another and we communicated with one another and we help each other, rather than so greedy for change that we push away everyone.”
Also during the meeting, the resignation of nine FPS staff was approved by the board: Mike Fisher, Kari Fisher, Lyle Thompson, Sally Norder, Grace Ellis, Raven DeFrain, Crystal Coakley, Brock Godown and Emily Winter.
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here were also several new hires approved: Melissa Dicks as Special Education teacher, Myranda Soncksen as secondary art teacher, Jamie Filipi as preschool teacher, Caitlin Wiedel as High School Special Education, Emma Arp as High School science teacher and Mackenzie Fralin as Jefferson Intermediate Principal.
