Still No Contract, High Teacher Turnover At Zion District 6

ZION, IL — Teachers at Zion District 6 are working without a contract, more than 600 days after the last agreement with the union expired, according to the Lake County News-Sun. The union does not intend to strike but its members have rejected a pair of draft contracts over the past 20 months.

The News-Sun obtained copies of the two drafts, the most recent of which was rejected last month. The documents indicate the district is seeking to add an additional hour to the school day without any additional compensation and to move away from a salary schedule for positions that are harder to fill, the News-Sun reported.

State data show the district had 25 unfilled positions as of last fall and, on average, only 77 percent of of its teachers return every year — compared to a state average of 85 percent and 90 percent at Zion-Benton Township High School, where District 6 feeds, according to the News-Sun.

With an overflow crowd at a Feb. 25 board meeting consisting mainly of teachers union members and supporters, one resident speaking during public comment recommended the district scrap the longer school day, give teachers a fair contract, stop annually hiking property taxes by the maximum allowed and start to make cuts "at the top" of the district, the News-Sun reported.

Questions about the district's hiring practices were raised last year after the board hired two principals for the same job at Beulah Park Elementary School.

It paid the first one $15,000 to resign before starting after questions arose from the community over a 15-year-old conviction for marijuana delivery.

Then it hired Curtiss Tolefree, who had just resigned from the Kenosha Unified School District, where he was facing a termination hearing due to accusations that he had "engaged in two inappropriate sexual relationships with his subordinates" and "created a hostile work environment and undermined the integrity of the educational environment" at the middle school where he worked.

In a statement Tolefree requested be added to his personnel file, he denied the claims and said he had "substantial evidence that the investigation and documentation is not accurate." He said he was unable to properly dispute the claims because he had resigned prior to his termination hearing.

Tolefree's 11-month, $112,000-a-year contract in District 6 is up June 30.

His Kenosha-based attorney Todd Terry — who has declined repeated interview requests on Tolefree's behalf — filed an abortive lawsuit against the Wisconsin district and the News-Sun for reporting on the circumstances of the resignation and pending termination hearings. It was withdrawn within a week of its filing last September and Terry has repeatedly refused to talk about it.