By Howard Packowitz

BLOOMINGTON – A parent described as a public relations nightmare.  The District 87 School Board fired Bloomington High School physics teacher Marc Tiritilli after students pleaded with board members to save his job.

Almost a year ago, Tiritilli came within a dozen votes of unseating Chris Koos as Normal’s mayor.

Wednesday night, students and some parents wearing ‘Marc Tiritilli for BHS’ stickers’ jammed the board room.

Tiritilli was one of the staffers let go in the annual reduction-in-force dismissals. They can be rehired if there’s funding, but Tiritilli was one of two instructors terminated for cause.

“I genuinely think you guys are making an enormous mistake by terminating his job,” said tearful BHS Junor Rachel Gaines, who started a petition drive to save Tirtilli’s job.

Tiritilli told the board Principal Tim Moore gave him the highest rating on a recent evaluation.

Senior Jordyn Coyle said she was “terrified” of physics until she took Tiritilli’s class.

“I wasn’t really a science kid, was a math kid. Physics is really a fusion of both. Yet, I still earned an A in both semesters of his class, including an A on the final,” said Coyle

Tiritilli said what got him in trouble was how he tried to save the district money for theater lighting. Tiritilli is the theater department’s technical director, and he said Moore complained Tiritilli would not take ‘no’ for an answer.

If people want to see someone as a trouble maker, or just unsettled, or always pushing, pushing, pushing, I guess you could make some of these actions fit that,” Tiritilli acknowleged.

He said he’s telling his story because speculation is disrupting his classroom and personal life.

“People are looking at this thing. Why would you let a good teacher go, someone who’s apparently having a good impact?
What’s he been doing? Is he putting hands on students, doing something inappropriate? What’s going on? At that point, I just had to say, look, here’s the simple truth,” Tiritilli said.

Administrators are not commenting on the personnel matter, but Superintendent Barry Reilly and Board President Mary Yount commended the students for speaking out.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]