Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for August 12, 2005 BUMMER...

...in Marion. From today's Southern Illinoisan...

Judge denies Marion teachers' request to stop transfer

BY BECKY MALKOVICH, THE SOUTHERN

BENTON - Four Marion teachers will start the school year in new classrooms after a federal judge denied their request for an injunction to stop their transfers.

U.S. District Judge J. Phil Gilbert rejected the request for an injunction made by the attorney for teachers Becky Belt, Karen Jenkins, Marsha Land and Jennifer Lincoln.

The teachers asked that the judge force the Marion school district to allow the teachers to remain in their previous Washington school assignments until a lawsuit filed by the teachers against the district is resolved.

The teachers were told at the end of last school year that they were being assigned to teach different grade levels at different schools this coming fall. They allege the reassignments were punishment for their speaking out against proposed attendance centers for the district.

The four filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District last month. The lawsuit charges the district with violating the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of the teachers. A trial could take place early next year.