Opportunity Missed
Meet with the WBEA for honest educator concerns.
West Bend’s School Board recently missed a golden opportunity to open a meaningful and honest dialog with its teaching staff, claiming support from a legal opinion it refuses to disclose, all in pursuit of ideological partisan purity. The decision not to meet and confer with the teachers’ elected representatives forces staff concerns to be aired in public instead of across the table and sends the new Superintendent into his new duties with one hand tied behind his back.
With the change in school board leadership and the hiring of a new Superintendent, the West Bend Education Association reached out to both asking not to “negotiate” the terms of their working conditions, but merely to sit down and discuss them in order to let the Board and Superintendent know how teachers honestly feel about how education is delivered. Both requests were denied, relying on a very strained reading of Act 10, which only limits “negotiations,” not “discussions.”
When speaking in a representative capacity, labor laws protect teacher Association leaders’ speech. They cannot be disciplined for saying things District leaders may not want to hear. When individual teachers speak up about concerns that might shine a negative light on the District, they can and have been disciplined for speaking “out of school.”
Some history is in order to understand why teachers might prefer to have their concerns aired in a representative capacity.
Even before the passage of Act 10 in 2011, some in our community publicly castigated, demonized and threatened public school employees. Teachers had their salaries published in a paid advertisement in this newspaper while talk radio and bloggers spread false information including claims that teachers are just glorified, overpaid babysitters who feed at the public trough, only working nine months a year while getting paid all year. While this vilification of our teacher corps continued, both school administrators and board members were silent.
When Act 10 passed, our School Board and former Superintendent, Ted Neitzke, adopted the “tools” it provided with a vengeance. Not only did they cut teacher take home pay, reduce retirement benefits, increase healthcare contributions, increase class sizes and sections taught, they introduced governance by favoritism, fear and intimidation.
WBEA leaders were the only District voices that stood up for teachers and the students they educate. Those leaders then faced administrator imposed disciplinary actions for speaking out about teacher concerns. It took over a year and a half of filing and mediating prohibited labor practice complaints to have those punishments overturned. The District finally withdrew all the punishments shortly after Neitzke’s last day on the job and just before the new Superintendent came on board.
It is no wonder that teachers are afraid to speak up individually without the legal protections provided to their elected representatives.
School Board President Rick Parks’ choice to stand by a legal opinion that evidently supports a strained explanation of the “intent” of Act 10 continues this historical trend of treating teachers like second class citizens unworthy of a seat at the table.
Even more disturbing is the District’s refusal to disclose the legal opinion Parks hides behind. After he mentioned it twice in a Facebook discussion on Benders for Better Public Education, I asked him to disclose it. He was silent. I then filed an open records request with the District seeking release of the opinion. It was initially denied based upon a claim of attorney-client privilege. I then filed a request for reconsideration showing that Parks’ public comments on Facebook broke the confidentially that normally accompanies attorney client discussions and protects them from disclosure. Parks responded on Facebook announcing he would no longer participate in the Benders forum because people questioned his decisions. The District denied my second request claiming Parks did not waive the privilege by his disclosures. Parks clearly does not want to have a meaningful discussion with his staff about what needs repair and is hiding behind an outlier opinion that he admits can be ignored if the Board so chooses.
It is interesting to note that the law firm that represents our District also represents the Shorewood School District. Shorewood administrators meet regularly with their teachers’ association about issues of mutual concern, apparently with the blessing of their lawyers.
Superintendent Olson publicly stated he wants all District voices to be heard. He needs open and honest input from his staff that he can only get if teachers can communicate with him with legally protected speech. That cannot happen under current policy.
The current School Board can fix this problem easily. They can adopt a new policy that follows what school boards in other districts like Shorewood, Elmbrook and Arrowhead do to meet and confer with their teachers’ Associations. They can legally adopt a policy that prohibits retaliation or discipline for teachers’ elected representatives who bring concerns about what is happening in our schools to administrators and the public. The Board can put WBEA nominated representatives on School Board committees and require regular discussion between Association leaders and the new Superintendent and School Board President.
If the Board truly wants a collaborative staff effort to improve our schools it has the power to make the changes necessary to bring that about. They just have to choose to change.
In the meantime, the WBEA will continue to represent its members, speak out privately and publicly about staff concerns and work to mobilize support for rational choices for our children and their education. It is the only safe voice teachers currently have in the discussion.
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