This morning as I was standing at the train station, I saw helicopters hovering nearby. No, there weren’t exercises at the Reserve Base or a life-saving airlift to Northwest Community Hospital– the media swooped down to cover the resignation of five teachers at South Middle School.
Here’s the story:
Each year, teams of seventh graders go on an overnight retreat/team-building exercise at Lorado Taft, a facility at a state park in Oregon, Illinois. An “unwritten tradition” for the teacher-chaperones is to spend an evening at a local bar to unwind, leaving other teacher-chaperones at the campus to watch over the kids.
After midnight, the teachers returned and some continued drinking at a site within the park. Then, sometime after 3:00 am one of the teachers went into a student dorm and fell asleep in a student’s bed. (Supposedly, nothing further happened.) This raised concern with some of the students and the school district’s investigation was begun.
The teacher who fell asleep was suspended immediately, and the other four were suspended a few days later. The school board continued its investigation, and presented its findings last night.
The school board issued the statement which appears on the next page. As a result of the investigation, the board accepted the resignation of five teachers who were involved in the incident.
At the center of the commotion is a school district policy adopted in 2001 that states that alcohol is prohibited for staff, students, and chaperones at all field trips and overnight trips. Apparently, the “traditional” visit to the bar has been going on for years with the knowledge (and implied consent, some say) of school officials. The attached statement denies district knowledge and consent.
The helicopters were there to cover the crowd of protesters who claim these teachers are being made into examples. There’s a group of parents calling themselves “Sunrise SOS” who are behind the protests and are demanding the reinstatement of the teachers. I assume these are the people who called out the media.
I’ve learned from many years in the business world that all organizations have policies and rules and if you violate those policies and rules, you’re out. The policies may not make sense or may even be completely whacked out, but its the organizations’ prerogative to put whatever rules they wish in place. It is the responsibility of the employee to abide by those policies if they wish to remain employed by the organization, and if they don’t, they can find employment with another organization that has policies that match their own objectives.
This sounds harsh, but it’s true.
I agree to my employer’s strict internet policy as a condition of employment. If I were to surf porn at work, I would expect a visit from the Security staff within the next two weeks telling me to clean out my desk. The fact that the guy on the other side of the wall does it daily or my boss down the hall has been doing it for five years does not excuse my violating the policy.
Plain and simple: the teachers violated the policy. I cannot believe these individuals were unaware of distict policy, and by violating it, they opened themselves up for dismissal.
Further, as a parent I am not comfortable with the idea of my childrens’ care being in the hands of people who do not have their wits about them, whether it’s “a couple beers” or more. The fact that one of the chaperones fell asleep in the kids’ dorm tells me we’re not talking about a Smirnoff Ice being nursed over the course of three hours.
Then there’s the question of whether this punishment is too harsh. Think about this: if you were an administrator for a school district and you were presented with this situation, what message would you be sending to the parents and the kids (who attend mandatory D.A.R.E. classes) if you said “Well, okay, since other teachers did it, we’ll go easy on these people.”
I believe the district did what they had to do: decisive and quick action to an issue that could have quickly exploded.
Unfortunately, the people gaining media attention are the ones who have called out the helicopters– the people who are chanting outside the school, clamoring for the teachers’ return.
The administrators of the district should know that there are many of us who support this decision, and we simply choose to avoid the cameras.

A Letter to District 25 Parents
May 27, 2005
Dear Parent or Guardian:
On May 10 and May 20, Arlington Heights District 25 distributed letters to middle school parents regarding an internal investigation into possible staff violations of the Board of Education’s policies with respect to the use of alcohol by District employees. We have now concluded this investigation and have determined that certain South Middle School teachers violated these policies during an educational outing of 7th grade students from South to Lorado Taft in late April of this year.
The safety and welfare of students and staff is a priority of the District. The Board takes such matters seriously and has taken appropriate actions. As a result of this investigation, the Board of Education has accepted the resignation of five faculty members and imposed disciplinary measures on other involved faculty members.
The specific findings of our investigation indicate that around 10:30 p.m. on the evening of April 28, a group of South faculty members visited an off-site location near the Lorado Taft campus where they consumed alcohol and then returned to Lorado Taft after midnight. Some of these faculty members returned to a site at Lowden State Park a few hundred yards from our students’ sleeping areas with alcohol and continued to consume alcohol from approximately 1:00 a.m. until 2:30 a.m. Sometime between 3:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. one of these faculty members entered a student dorm and fell asleep in an area occupied by students. This action awakened some students and precipitated this investigation. Thankfully, our findings indicate that no students consumed alcohol or were physically harmed in the incident. Additionally, no faculty members from Thomas Middle School were involved. Our findings also indicate that not all faculty members approved of and/or participated in alcohol consumption.
During our investigation, faculty members reported that faculty use of alcohol during this annual Lorado Taft educational outing occurred in the past and was considered a “tradition.” Our findings indicate that no current administrator at South, or in the central office, was aware of, condoned, participated in, or approved of this “tradition.” In fact, all faculty, including administrators, sign a statement that they will comply with drug and alcohol policies. Staff members are informed annually of their responsibility to adhere to all District policies. It is regrettable that any employee chose to consume alcohol on past trips. However, past actions in no way excuse the violations that were uncovered.
The Board of Education has adopted clear policies prohibiting the use of alcohol by faculty members during all field trips, field experiences, and excursions, including the Lorado Taft outing. The Board continually reviews the District policies. In 2001, the Board reviewed the policies related to alcohol use while supervising students on outings and specified that these policies are in effect for the duration of any such outing. These policies were made public and distributed to District staff. Further clarification for staff included the distinction that participating members who leave the site of a field trip, field experience, or excursion and return, remain part of the educational outing. Staff members who leave the site and do not return are no longer considered part of the educational outing.
The Board of Education expects staff behavior to reflect the best interests of students. The remote location of Lorado Taft requires that staff members be unimpaired and able to assist in the event of an emergency. All staff members are expected to use common sense and maintain high ethical standards, including abstinence from consuming alcohol when participating on a field trip or excursion.
We recognize that Lorado Taft is an important part of the 7th grade experience. Moving forward, district administrators will work closely with faculty, staff, parents, and students to ensure the safety and welfare of all participants. As in the past, the Board will continually review District policies, procedures, and protocols.
The District apologizes to students, parents and the community for these unfortunate events.
Thank you for your patience and understanding as we conducted the internal investigation of these incidents. If you have any questions, please call the Superintendent’s Office at (847) 758-4870.
Sincerely,
Alan E. Simon
Superintendent of Schools
Dan Petro
President, Board of Education