Local 609 Wins Victory Against the District
From the whoops file of the agenda for the next Board meeting.
There a notice called PERC on the agenda which is legal public notice of what the district did wrong and what they have to do to correct it. Apparently, our district tried to withhold information/emails from Local 609 and have now gotten a bit of a smackdown.
The notice states that the district committed unfair labor practices against Local 609. It looks like the union was looking for e-mail and other electronic documents and the district didn't hand them over. The union wins lawyer fees and other expenses. The most interesting part is the handslaps and mea culpas the district had to state in the notice.
There a notice called PERC on the agenda which is legal public notice of what the district did wrong and what they have to do to correct it. Apparently, our district tried to withhold information/emails from Local 609 and have now gotten a bit of a smackdown.
The notice states that the district committed unfair labor practices against Local 609. It looks like the union was looking for e-mail and other electronic documents and the district didn't hand them over. The union wins lawyer fees and other expenses. The most interesting part is the handslaps and mea culpas the district had to state in the notice.
Comments
I would love to see something in her contract that docks her pay by $10,000 for each of them. That would be accountability.
The District has been slammed by the Superior Court for not providing a full and accurate public record of all the documentation and public testimony given in its last major decisions -the result being that there is no capacity to have a judicial review and appellants suing the District cant argue their case properly because the District has either withheld or destroyed documents/evidence...
Additionally, the District has not even been able to swear in court that the Board members were given all of the evidence, submissions, testimony to review in the process of making their decisions/casting their votes...
Marie Goodloe Johnson should be fired for this dereliction of duty... and the Board should be ashamed of itself for letting this happen...
If according to the previous thread, internal District IT is dysfunctional and if, according to other threads, Communications Dept is not as strong as it could be, then do not look for the issue to be resolved anytime soon.
This is not to say it could not be fixed. But it would take C-level priority to do so, and that would mean some serious hands-on management of the next few layers of workers.
So will it happen? Would not put money on it. Until the District loses a massive lawsuit. Having been involved in just such an issue in the business world, I know a couple of places where the District could (would almost certainly) lose $$ millions because of their non-handling of data. But since the idea of this blog is constructive not destructive criticism, I will not share them in an open forum.
Neither is this issue peculiar to the current superintendent. It is a weakness that has only grown over the past decade.
Would that not be constructive action?
In my book, it would be...
I don't want to see the district lose a huge lawsuit, because they'll still hold the purse strings from which the money will be paid, from our dollars of course. And no, they won't care. It's not their money.
I prefer to see these humiliating smack-downs for their utmost arrogance and contempt for the rule of law that rivals a few ex-lawyers in the Bush admin.
Arbitrary and capricious, and now "unfair labor practices." Hey, that's a trifecta.
How ridiculous is this going to get? Are we looking at a strike next year? With this crap going on, I have zero faith the Admin will enter or engage in "good faith" negotiations. They don't know the meaning of it.
Thanks for the spoliation piece.
Sahila said: "the result being that there is no capacity to have a judicial review and appellants suing the District can't argue their case properly because the District has either withheld or destroyed documents/evidence..."
So since the SPS produced no evidence submitted by the public in the HS Math appeal, and the Plaintiffs tossed in over 200 pages that the district should have used, Wseadawg makes a good point.
"I prefer to see these humiliating smack-downs for their utmost arrogance and contempt for the rule of law that rivals a few ex-lawyers in the Bush admin.
Arbitrary and capricious, and now "unfair labor practices." Hey, that's a trifecta.
How ridiculous is this going to get?
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I am extremely concerned with the frequent failure of the board members elected in 2007 to use "solid" evidence in making decisions (in some cases any evidence). The idea that the SPS Board still has not made known whether they will comply with a court order of Remand or will appeal is disturbing. Remember the Board excluded: all evidence submitted by the public. In the NTN decision four directors voted to approve. If all the evidence had been considered we would likely be right back at:
"There was insufficient evidence for any reasonable Board member to approve this proposal."
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Guess its time to recall all four directors elected in 2007 and fire the Superintendent.
If you went by the Times prediction of winners would spend as much as $50,000 to get elected in 2007 the total for the "Four" would be $200,000. The "Four" spent over $450,000.
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Harium's reported statement about the "Discovering" decision having far reaching implications in the broader picture would sound more appropriate coming from a Key Press stockholder or executive than a School Board member concerned about Seattle's kids. In fact Harium voted against the adoption in a 4-3 decision to adopt "Mathematically Unsound" materials.
What is up with the apparent change of heart?
To have the state require training for a local political sub-division is very telling.
And this is only the latest symptom of what ails this district.
Major surgery is needed, soon!
We don't remember them happening before MGJ brought her "style" to us.
We know the workers in that union (non-teaching) as loyal, hard working, respectable service providers and the District treats them with every disrespectful trick in the book to undercut their employment. And YES, the previous entry is right:they don't care because it's not their money...IT'S OURS!
Didn't someone once say: "As you treat the least of me, so you treat me"?
Maybe senior staff should read better material.
No time ... busy reading "Broad" manuals.
.... Now where is that section on public relations recommendations and strategies for any major crisis?
I really, really hope there isn't a teachers strike but I have now seen, in action, the SEA reps and the Superintendent and I have to wonder how commitment either side is to making this work. Not that either wants a strike but how entrenched they are from the get go.
That said, in my opinion the SEA should have some serious backbone and stand firm against craptitude: Though many claim otherwise, I believe union teachers care very much for students and use their collective power to steer policy in mnay ways. These upcoming talks, I hope, will be marked by strong union demands for proper pedagogy (as it is impacted by various workplace conditions) and from a place of principle: The district would like various changes to the working conditions (including classroom activities) of its employees; the union should ask that these changing conditions be daylighted, discussed, and assessed for validity as "best practice."
If there is not effort by both sides to speak openly about changes to the contract, including new initiatives in district systems, then the union should strike and I hope the public supports them in this.
A strike, IF supported by the public as a means to stengthen public dialogue about our schools, can be about more than just the teacher's pay.
Why else is it posited that the teachers' unions, which, at their worst, protects 3 to 5% of people who don't deserve it, are somehow an existential threat to public schools if they don't cave in and cow-tow to the threats, bribery, and extortion of reformers and their "do it, or else" bullying tactics.
Sure, unions can be difficult to work with, but it's not like administrations aren't. A rudimentary understanding of history reveals whey they're necessary. (Despite 50% of The Times' knuckle-dragging commenters' opinions)
I don't see how the district will avoid a strike, given their confrontational, disrespectful, condescending, arrogant attitudes. What's more, they will probably relish the opportunity to use their buddies in the press to malign teachers even further should they strike. Do you think they'll be ANY objective coverage of the issues should teachers strike? Just watch.
I am sure they will continue to commit unfair labor practices against employees of the school district and will not care.
They are really commiting this unfair labor practice and really outright disrespect to the school children. But I guess when these leaders spend so much time in cubicles with their iimportant stature they do not think about this. Here is what the District catch words should say;
"EVERYONE ACCOUNTABLE"(ACCEPT for MGJ and BOARD)
"EXCELLENCE for ALL"(ACCEPT for MGJ and SCHOOL BOARD)
I hope that they at least change this so they would not be compromising the truth!!!!!
"Do you think they'll be ANY objective coverage of the issues should teachers strike? Just watch."
Of course not: our choices are corporate media (KING, KIRO, and so on), and they are required by management to paint unions as terrible bad awful things -- and the Times, which is even more rabid about union issues.
If there winds up being a strike, you can bet that all the local media will beat the drums about how terrible unions are, and how we really need charter schools for precisely this reason. I, meanwhile, will be organizing parents to march on picket lines in support of teachers.
I wouldn't dare make it a drinking game, as too many people would die.
As an SEA / WEA member, I have seen little to no ability from our leadership to take advantage of the internet to correct nonsense messaging from those looking to blame teachers for everything we don't control.
Our tactics and strategy seem stuck in the technological approaches to organizing from the 1930's, and the whining about the obvious media bias has been a staple "response" since the election disasters of 1980.
If I had more time, I'd put it into my kids / my job, not helping those who run for leadership roles do their job - so we share frustration.
Our kids certainly deserve more than incessant barrages of powerpoints from out of touch educrat consultants.
BM