The mismanagement of local and state politicians has hit the area hard today. There are rumors that Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Southern Illinois is closing. If true, this is a tragedy that impacts young lives, when they are most vulnerable.
Bad news at John A. Logan College is not a rumor. Notice of Recommendation of Reduction in Force letters went out to dozens of employees. Two special meetings of the Board of Trustees will be held Wednesday, March 2. The first will be at 5:30, from which the Board will go into executive session. The second is at 7pm. The agenda for each meeting provides for public comment. To be considered are the elimination of 15 non-teaching professional staff, 35 full time faculty and 5 Teamsters. That's 20 people who support students or teaching and eight non-tenured, and 27 tenured, faculty.
As a union spokesman told the BOT, at their last meeting, this is not all the fault of the state (though, surely, most of it is). Some of Logan's financial problems are of the Board's own making.
Regardless of who is to blame, it is cruel and unnecessary to put the entire college through the trauma it is now experiencing. The part time temporary president and a part time temporary vice president are making decisions that will have far reaching consequences that will outlast their theoretically short tenures. All employees are operating under a cloud and, while one assumes that only a fraction of those who received letters will be eliminated, everyone holding a letter tonight has to assume the worst. The unions, the public, alumni and local legislators should hold the administration and the Board's feet to the fire. There needs to be a rationale, publicly given, for each position eliminated and for why each individual has been singled out.
Right now, everyone has to assume the worst: that some will be lost regardless of length of service, quality of service or prestige brought to the College. Some may be lost as old scores are
settled. In all cases, careers will be disrupted, families uprooted and institutional memory lost. ...All this because a college got cute with credit hours, and finances, and two generations of
legislators neglected their jobs.
Amen.
ReplyDeleteHere's a link to the KFVS TV 12 broadcast, regarding the layoffs: http://www.kfvs12.com/story/31349354/john-a-logan-employees-receive-notice-of-impending-layoffs
ReplyDeleteWhoever said "numbers don't lie" was a college administrator.
ReplyDeletehttp://thesouthern.com/news/local/education/jalc-board-will-determine-fate-of-jobs-in-special-meeting/article_3715c64e-8fdd-5ead-bcb9-9a55a37be652.html
RIP
ReplyDeleteThe Key Questions are that after having expended millions of taxpayer dollars and increasing debt, costs of tuition, adding costs across the board to all the cost centers of the college, reducing staff and shutting down departments. Did these decisions meet these objectives:
ReplyDeletea. Did it increase student enrollment?
b. Did it improve Student learning outcomes?
c. Did it improve Student Retention?
d. Did it increase Graduation Rates?
e. Improve Student Success?
The Board, The President, and the interim VP of Administration, et all are in a crisis management mode rather than deal with the person that brought the 800 pound gorilla in the mix, which is the reason for the resource action that has caused 55 staff and maybe more in the future to lose their livelihood. The affairs of the State finances and budget are a convenient excuse. However, this was in the cards a long time ago as can be proved by the video message to the college by Dr. Dreith. the Ex-President assuring staff that there was no list to lay-off staff in early 2015. http://livestream.com/accounts/9566434/events/3269089/videos/74701085
A grave injustice has been foisted on the taxpayers of Illinois, as well as the residents of Southern Illinois promptly pay property taxes, the staff the parents and students by an inept, cheating and lying administration. They cheated with impunity an institution (the ICCB) for years and were able to fudge numbers in annual audits (http://thesouthern.com/news/local/john-a-logan-college-ordered-to-repay-million/article_700dbc18-d865-571c-861e-0bdfb60fecd9.html)
DeleteWe can infer that they would not hesitate to do the same to the taxpayers? There is a need to audit every single contract and project, the justifications and claims of cost savings, short and long-term for the past 10 years.