By Candi Peterson, WTU Gen. Vice President
Statements or expressions of opinions herein 'do not' represent the views or official positions of DCPS, AFT, Washington Teachers' Union (WTU) or its members. Views are my own.
Statements or expressions of opinions herein 'do not' represent the views or official positions of DCPS, AFT, Washington Teachers' Union (WTU) or its members. Views are my own.
It’s easy to take for
granted the rights and benefits we have as union members. That is, until we
need the support of our local union. It’s like insurance. No one ever thinks
they are going to need insurance until you get sick, you are in an accident or
your house burns down.
Working in education
carries risk and none of us, even tenured teachers aren’t immune anymore. From accusations
of corporal punishment, workplace disputes, imperfect evaluation ratings, bully
principals, suspensions and terminations, teachers regularly face a myriad of
problems in the workplace, like never before.
Imagine if you had to seek
redress on your own. The price of justice would be way too high for most of us
to afford. Not to mention, most people need technical assistance in interpreting their union contract or help
with understanding all the rules and time lines governing the grievance and
arbitration process.
I get a lot of calls
regularly from DC teachers ranging from questions about the contract to how to
approach their boss to advice on how to deal with an administrative investigation
to requests to grieve a workplace dispute, suspension or termination.
It caught me off guard when I received a
voicemail from Cynthia Lee, a former African American Fairfax County Public School teacher who had been terminated in 2012 after 13 years. I couldn’t
imagine how I could be of help. So it seems my blog, The Washington Teacher caught
Lee’s attention and she thought I could offer her some media coverage about her
termination.
I guess I always thought
the grass was greener on the other side and that teachers in Fairfax County Public Schools somehow had it better. On the national front, in my opinion
there seems to be a push to rid our schools of veteran teachers and teachers of
color. What a pity for the children we serve.
In many ways, Cynthia
Lee’s story is similar to another African-American teacher Fairfax County Public
Schools tried to fire in 2012. Violet Nichols, a 30 year
veteran tenured teacher also faced threats of termination due to
allegations of incompetence.
Virginia law says that
teachers may be dismissed for incompetency, immorality, noncompliance with
school laws and regulations, conviction of a felony or crime of moral
turpitude, or other good and just cause. Regardless of whether a teacher
in the state of Virginia is tenured and has a long history of good evaluations,
one administrator can throw all that out the window and deem a teacher
incompetent.
Some of the reasons cited
for Nichols incompetence was that she used too many worksheets and had poor use
of technology which she rebutted. Let’s say for a minute we believe these
allegations, doesn’t sound like a very high bar to label a teacher incompetent.
Nichols story appeared several
times in the Washington Post beginning in June 2012. Although personnel
proceedings are confidential, according to the Post-Nichols decided to make her
fact finding hearing open to the public , “because she wanted to shine a light
on what she felt was a witch hunt.”
Nichols was eventually vindicated
after a public fact finding hearing in which evidence was presented and many
supporters testified (parents, students). She was later reinstated. Thank God
for union representation and media coverage.
Unlike Lee, Nichols was a
union member and held a leadership role in her union. Her union membership
status afforded her certain rights that non-members in the Virginia Education
Association (VEA) aren’t entitled to including representation during the
grievance process and payment of her attorney fees as well as hearing costs,
which can be quite exorbitant in Virginia (roughly $8000 assessed as the teacher’s
responsibility plus payment of half of the panels’ salaries during the hearing).
The Virginia Education
Association (VEA) represents more than 50,000 teachers and support personnel in
the Common Wealth of Virginia. According to VEA website , “union members are
entitled to a hearing. Either the teacher or the school board can ask a
fact-finding panel (made up of one school employee nominated by the
superintendent, one school employee nominated by the teacher, and a neutral
chairperson) to conduct a preliminary hearing and offer findings and
recommendations. However, the final decision to dismiss the teacher for cause rests
with the school board.”
Cynthia Lee describes
herself as the poster child for becoming a union member. Lee said “teachers
should join the union, the minute they walk in the door.” She dropped her
membership for financial reasons thinking she was safe as a tenured teacher in
Fairfax County Public Schools. In hindsight, Lee now knows differently.
There are some parallels
to both Nichols and Lee’s cases. Both were African American tenured teachers
with advanced degrees and a history of good evaluations. Both had letters of
support from parents. Both demonstrated student tests results that supported
student achievement gains, no worse than their peers. Both filed discrimination
cases that their negative treatment was racially motivated. Both were placed on
probation.
In Virginia, once a
teacher is placed on probation they must accept a plan of assistance to help
them improve. Fairfax County Public Schools provided Lee a coach as well as a
committee that helped her to improve her teaching. Lee reports she passed with
flying colors and was quite excited about her success and recommendations that
her conditional status as a teacher be removed.
Subsequently, Lee’s principal arbitrarily recommended her for termination due to incompetence in spite of the recommendations by her coach/committee to have her conditional status removed. The principal’s recommendation was made during Lee's mid-year evaluation in January.
Subsequently, Lee’s principal arbitrarily recommended her for termination due to incompetence in spite of the recommendations by her coach/committee to have her conditional status removed. The principal’s recommendation was made during Lee's mid-year evaluation in January.
Lee states she had a presentation ready to show her principal during her evaluation and was stunned
when the principal and her assistant refused to see the presentation. Lee was escorted to the back of her classroom by the principal. At that time, the principal gave her the news that she would be "fired" at the end of the school year. Lee asked the
principal, “Is there anything I can do to improve between now and June so I
won’t be fired? The principal responded,“no”.
What followed next is
unconscionable. Lee attempted to file a grievance about her recommended
termination at the Step 1 level with the principal but Fairfax County public
schools denied her right to file steps 1-4 because she was a non-union member.
Nichols, on the other hand- a union member was able to grieve her recommended
termination with the support of the union by her side during the various stages
of the process.
“Every time I called the
union for help, they told me they couldn’t help me because I wasn’t a union
member”, Lee said. The school district advised Lee that she could only appeal her recommendation for her termination at the Step 5 level which is an advisory
fact finding hearing.
Initially Lee had no idea that her cost to pay the arbitrator alone would be more than $8,000, until she hired an attorney who advised her of the fee-splitting costs charged by Fairfax. Ultimately, she spent thousands of dollars on attorney fees.
Initially Lee had no idea that her cost to pay the arbitrator alone would be more than $8,000, until she hired an attorney who advised her of the fee-splitting costs charged by Fairfax. Ultimately, she spent thousands of dollars on attorney fees.
According to a Fairfax County Public Schools regulation
4461.1 “the employee shall bear his or her own expense. The school board will
bear the expenses of the superintendent. The expenses of the panel shall be
borne one half by the school board and one half by the employee.” Lee was livid
when she learned that non-union members also were required to pay for the panel
members’ salaries during the course of the hearing. Had Lee been a union
member, the union would have subsidized these costs.
Fairfax officials also told Lee that in order to appeal using the Step 5 hearing, she would have to waive her right to grieve her termination (using steps 1-4 that had no cost). So Lee wrote the letter to waive her rights.. Even with an attorney, Fairfax refused to allow Lee to use the grievance steps to appeal her termination.
Fairfax officials also told Lee that in order to appeal using the Step 5 hearing, she would have to waive her right to grieve her termination (using steps 1-4 that had no cost). So Lee wrote the letter to waive her rights.. Even with an attorney, Fairfax refused to allow Lee to use the grievance steps to appeal her termination.
As you can imagine having
to make this kind of choice is no choice at all. Lee was unable to afford the costs of the Step 5 fact finding hearing and had to forgo it.Lee admits to signing
a settlement agreement with Fairfax County Public Schools under duress, so she
wouldn’t be fired and agreed to take a lesser job as an instructional assistant
with a $25,000 pay reduction. She remained 1 ½ years in that position.
“Thank--you for helping to get the word out about my case.
Most minorities cannot afford the high costs of litigation so when employers
put fees in their grievance and arbitration procedures, it produces a disparate
impact. Just like the poll tax. We need to lobby congress to create
laws that regulate fee-splitting. Two good teachers with two different
results. By going public with a comparison of my case (no union - no due
process - no money to pay for "Fact Finding Panel" - no vindication)
and Violet Nichols case (union paid all costs – due process- vindication) it
will get the word out to the public that unions are necessary and that law
makers need to intervene,” Lee said.
In time, Lee retired and was able to
hire another attorney with some of the proceeds from her retirement funds. It’s a
shame it had to come to this. She has had several attorneys working on her
behalf and remains committed to pursue her case by filing a petition for an en banc hearing (heard by the full court) with
the 4th circuit in the hopes they will address the fee-splitting clause in Fairfax's grievance procedure. Hope this helps.
New and veteran teachers, this could be you. Take Lee’s advice, join a union.
New and veteran teachers, this could be you. Take Lee’s advice, join a union.
© Candi Peterson 2015
6 comments:
Well, both of those were touching stories. Unfortunately, as a paid union member of WTU, I feel, even with union representation, I was not represented well and the union in my case was ineffective. I did everything that I was supposed to do but the union did not. Funny, things only matters when it directly impacts those persons who are assigned to help others. To me, it was a joke!
Wow. I have always been a believer that unions can make a difference. Our present day unions are faced with threats of discontinuance by education entities who do not want tenure and perceive unions as nuisances. I hope that unions are here to stay as teachers need unions to protect against bullying principals and unfair practices. This is a great article.
I had the same, very poor experience with the WTU as Ms. Anthony, above.
In fact, my Rep quit mid-year to run for some public office, without any notice.
WTU needs to be MUCH stronger, much louder and much more pro-active!
Sorry to hear both of your experiences with WTU Taiwanna and Jane. Unfortunately, I wasn't there during that time. I'd surely be interested in hearing more from you both on how you thinks things could be improved?
If you think you have been subjected to discrimination, you may file a complaint within 180 days from the date of the alleged violation you may contact The Director, Civil Rights Center (CRC), U.S. Dept. of Labor, 200 Constitution Ave NW, Room N-4123, Washington, D.C. 20210. Email address is CivilRightsCenter@dol.gov
In the state of Virginia, school employees are not afforded the benefits of a union. We are limited to associations which have much less 'influence'. I have been working for public schools in the state of Virginia since 1990. Just recently I had to go on leave without pay. I am thankful for the support and guidance from FEA. I am extremely frustrated at the lack of ability to respond to inappropriate behaviors of administrators within the system. They seem to have the authority to do what ever they please.
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