DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) - A Decatur teachers' union has filed unfair labor practice grievances against Decatur Public Schools with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board. 

Susan Niesman, vice president of the Decatur Education Association, said the union filed two grievances with the board. This related to the district's plan to involuntarily reassign support staff, including instructional specialists. reading recovery teachers and others, to classrooms in January. 

DPS decided against that plan after receiving backlash. The union is claiming the district did this improperly and reposted the jobs with different titles, which gave them the opportunity to hire new people. The educators affected by this had the chance to reapply and interview for their jobs, but did not get a guarantee of having their jobs back, Niesman said.

Before filing formal complaints, the union twice filed informal grievances with the district. Both times, the district said it felt it did nothing wrong.

The union hopes the board finds the affected positions were not eliminated properly. It wants the specialists and recovery teachers to be able to return to their jobs if they choose to. 

Decatur Public Schools declined to comment on the grievances when WAND-TV reached out for a statement.

A date for a hearing is unknown at this time due to the COVID-19 pandemic.