Bartlett High teacher talks about activism

Gary Lorber has become a regular feature at Elgin Area School District U-46 board meetings.

The Bartlett High School English teacher, now in his 14th year at the school, has spoken out week after week about the budget crisis facing the state's second-largest school district.

After making nearly $30 million in cuts March 15, U-46, by the school board president's own admission, won't look the same next year.

Lorber has consistently urged teachers, parents and even his students to demand a solution from legislators.

He sat down with the Daily Herald recently to chat about his efforts, which include getting 4,000 colleagues to head to Springfield with him to lobby for House Bill 174, which would increase both individual and corporate income taxes.

Those who remain

Lorber, tenured for more than a decade, may not be one of the district's 732 teachers losing their jobs, but says his department has been devastated with the districts' cuts, based on tenure.

"When I look at Bartlett's English Department, we're losing eight of our teachers," Lorber said. "I'm a single parent and I have joint custody of my son. It doesn't allow me to do some other things in school I might have done in the past like coaching. We're talking the effect that's going to have in our department is just traumatic. There is no way to understate that."

Larger classes

"I read all of the articles written on U-46, and the online comments people post. They get me mad. One of these recurring statements is that teachers should just deal with larger class sizes, and the kids should get used to it.

"We'll be in our classrooms next year, but it certainly won't be a good situation if I have a class of 35 or 40 or more compared to a class of 25."

Getting involved

"I'm a little bit more politically active kind of person with general politics as well as school politics, but I haven't been involved at this kind of level until now. What I've been trying to do is engage as many people as I can. We tend to not speak out even when things are very important to us. To me it's about speaking out, creating this network of people that have been vested in our problem.

"The more people that become actively involved the better chance we have. Particularly get the politicians to consider the options of what we can do."

Lorber is hoping to get 4,000 people to travel downstate with him Wednesday, April 21, to lobby for House Bill 174, which would fund education through an income tax increase. "That's the only option on the table right now," he said.

Talking with students

"With the kids, there's debate about this. The last thing I want to do is use kids in order to try to make amends. To me the means justify the ends, not vice versa.

"I'm trying to be cautious where I wouldn't be accused of using kids.

But our kids are very concerned. The aspect that concerns them the most is their favorite teachers are the ones that lost their jobs. But I think we sell our kids short that they are not capable of learning and thinking about this and making educated decisions. The kids ... they know I'm willing to talk about things. And so when they ask and when they've asked, I try to offer up without oversimplifying the problem, talk about the aspects of this and point them to places where they can get education. About what is House Bill 174. What are our budget concerns. Why are some things in U-46 being cut, others are not.

"It's tough to get adults to mobilize and act. It's tough to get kids to mobilize and act. I've tried to steer them toward education and understanding."