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ROEA Reporter

Fight for Probationary Teachers

The ROEA has filed for arbitration over the forced resignation of probationary teacher Robin Trembour.  Trembour was forced to resign this past spring in lieu of being non-renewed for her 4th year of teaching.  Faced with a discharge for which no cause had been established, Robin reluctantly resigned rather than have to seek a new job with a discharge on her record.  Shortly thereafter, uncomfortable with her decision and feeling professionally violated by the principal and the administration, she verbally recanted and sought the assistance of the Association.  The forced resignation-a flagrant act of unfairness by Robin’s principal which was supported by the administration-left Trembour without a job although she had earned considerable support from fellow teachers and the accolades of parents and students.  The discharge was wholly unearned by Robin.  Her chances of a future job are damaged since applications ask whether a teacher has been asked to resign from a previous position.  Answer honestly and you probably won’t get an interview; answer dishonestly and you have violated the law.

Our job as a union is to serve our members and the education profession, both of which have been damaged by the administration’s misuse of Michigan’s Tenure Act.  That is why the ROEA Executive Board has voted to file a grievance knowing that it will be a difficult one to win.  The cause of fair treatment of our probationary teachers is an important one to the Executive Board.

Robin’s career was notable for the energy and enthusiasm that she displayed for her students and her work.  An engaging personality, she was popular and well thought of by teachers and parents.  After two years and seven months at Mark Twain Elementary School she was a solid member of the building team.  Her students did exceptionally well academically and behaviorally and parents looked forward to their younger children having Ms. Trembour as their future teacher.

In Robin’s first two years of teaching, she received grades of ‘Acceptable’ in every category of her year end evaluations.  (‘Acceptable’ is the highest ranking on the evaluation; the other rankings are ‘Needs Improvement’ and ‘Unacceptable.’)  Here is an excerpt from the principal’s comments on Robin’s first evaluation.  “You’ve really had a great first year.  You easily integrated with the existing staff, forming a team in the upper elementary and contributing to the school improvement process.  Parents and students alike responded well to you.”  The evaluation was the same at the end of Robin’s second year, all grades of ‘Acceptable’.  The principal wrote, “As you conclude your second year, I hope you see and appreciate your successes.  You enjoy a good reputation with your parents, your students respond well to you, you’ve established yourself among the entire staff and you seem to enjoy the demanding job you’ve chosen as your profession”.

Robin’s third year proceeded smoothly although an unusual discussion was initiated by the principal when she met with Robin to discuss Robin’s October classroom observation.  During a lunch meeting which was supposed to be for the purpose of the principal to provide feedback to Robin about her October observation, the principal instead asked Robin several questions about her personal life such as whether she was dating.  The principal then volunteered that her own dating relationship was problematic, offering details of the problems.  At no point did the principal ever initiate a discussion which had anything to do with the classroom observation.  There is no record of observation in Robin’s personnel file for the October observation.  The significance of this is that under the Tenure Act a district’s failure to assess an observation in terms of progress towards the probationary teachers Individual Development Plan (IDP) goals “is conclusive evidence that the teacher’s performance for that school year was satisfactory.”  After the February observation, the principal concludes by noting a successful math lesson and writing, “Good job, Robin!”  (This is germane as after teachers and parents wrote to the Superintendent and attended Board meetings to protest Robin’s discharge, the principal wrote a letter claiming that Robin was discharged due to a lack of mastery of the curriculum.)

Why then did Robin come to work as a successful and aspiring probationary teacher the morning of March 26^th, 2004 and leave as a discharged one that afternoon?  No answer is necessary from the administration’s point of view as the Tenure Act is commonly interpreted to mean that probationary teachers have no just cause rights.  The administration feels no legal or ethical obligation to rationalize their action.

After teachers, parents, and students attended several school board meetings to protest Robin’s discharge, the principal wrote a letter to Mr. Shorkey attempting to justify the discharge.  In the letter, the principal criticized Robin’s knowledge of curriculum.  The principal also noted that Robin wore jeans during her first year, omitting that she wore the jeans on casual Fridays and that this was permissible at the school.  The after the fact letter is suspicious as curriculum had never been discussed as a problematic issue in any evaluation.  In fact, the principal was complimentary of the math lesson that she observed during Robin’s last observation.  Additionally, the building staff based on co-teaching with Robin, working with Robin on building committees, and spending considerable amount of time in her classroom were very willing to dispute the principal’s allegations about Robin’s curriculum knowledge and professional demeanor.

The arbitration case will be based in part on the state Constitution which gives just cause protections to all employees.  The portion of the tenure act that applies to probationary teachers does not give them the same level of just cause rights that are conferred upon tenured teachers who have access to an appeal to the state tenure commission if they are discharged.  The legal question is whether the Tenure Act completely waives just cause protections for probationary teachers.  The administration is interpreting the Act to mean that they can arbitrarily fire probationary teachers and that the content of evaluations has no bearing on continued employment.  Our contention is that since a specific evaluation structure and process is build into the Tenure Act for probationary teachers it is at least implicit that the evaluation instrument is meaningful in continued employment towards tenure.  In other words, good evaluations should mean that you can rightfully expect continued employment.  Why else would the legislature make evaluations a mandatory part of probationary status?  The probationary language also mandates that IDP goals are determined for probationary teachers, that evaluations are conducted to measure progress towards those goals, and that a district’s failure to comply with this is “conclusive evidence that the teacher’s performance for the school year was satisfactory.”  We believe that a substantial procedural violation occurred when the principal failed to utilize Robin’s October observation to measure progress towards her IDP goals.

Epilogue

The principal responsible for Robin’s discharge, Christine Ferber, was suddenly and suspiciously placed on a medical leave after supporters of Robin made allegations to the Superintendent about inappropriate professional behavior by the principal.  My speculation is that the Superintendent found the allegations to have merit and the District placed the principal on a medical leave.  This served the purpose of preventing any questioning of the principal’s judgment about Robin.  Recently, the principal was hired by the Utica School District as an elementary principal.  Undoubtedly, the administration helped her to procure this job.  The administration did nothing to help Robin procure another job.  As a result the career of the principal, who was determined by our administration as no longer fit to work in the Royal Oak School District, will flourish.  Meanwhile, the administration continues to harm the career of an excellent teacher by stubbornly supporting the judgment of a principal whom they no longer wish to employ.  In order to obtain justice for Robin, the MEA is taking the case to arbitration.  However, we are all going to have to do more than that.  In the future, you will be asked to write or call your state representatives to discuss the shortcomings of the Tenure Act and perhaps sign a petition supporting Robin.  This will have great bearing upon the arbitration case and our ability to win protective language for probationary teachers in our next contract.

Sid
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Profiles in Service - Bertha Arribas

Dondero Spanish teacher Bertha Arribas has served ROEA and MEA members with the passion and devotion that comes from growing up in a union home.  Here are excerpts from my interview with Bertha.

1. What is your position with the MEA? 
I was elected in 1991 to the MEA Board of Directors, Representative of Third World. 

2. What offices did you hold in the ROEA?  What motivated you to become active in the ROEA and the MEA?
I started teaching in Royal Oak in 1983 and shared a room with the ROEA president, Holly Blomfield.  I went to her asking how to sign up for my dues and my PAC contribution.  I valued from day one my union as my dad was a very strong advocate of the UAW.  As a skilled trade worker, his union gained many benefits for their workers.  I guess that was their first hint to recruit me into the ROEA Executive  Board.  Betty Ong and Nila Wilson who were at the time the third world delegates invited me to lunch and I was sold on the idea of becoming an active union leader for ROEA.  I was elected as an MEA RA delegate representative of third world my second year in 1984.  I held that position until becoming program vice president for two terms until 2002.  As a delegate in Royal Oak I then became involved in the region and served as region secretary for several years.  I was then elected as an NEA delegate representative of third world.  After being active in Royal Oak and at the region level and at the state level, I decided to run for my current seat on the MEA Board of Directors. 

3.  What has your involvement in ROEA and MEA meant to you? What have you  learned?  What do you hope to accomplish?
I consider myself very fortunate to have been encouraged to become an active union leader so early in my teaching career.  I have grown so much in my profession through all the great training provided and through the many learning experiences along the way. Teaching has always been my main priority but I know that it is through the strength of our organization that I have been provided the tools to be an effective teacher.  The many struggles before my time have made my job as a teacher much easier. It has always been my goal to help educate those who do not understand what the union represents and how important it is to all of us in order to succeed in our profession to make a real difference in the lives of our students.  I strongly believe that we must stand united to conquer.

4.  How do you find time to devote to union activities, considering your  family responsibilities?
Well, since I was "hooked" when I was single, when I married 7 years later it was too hard to give up.  In fact, I missed my first MEA Board of Directors meeting while in Paris for my honeymoon in 1991.  My husband was very supportive and knew that the MEA was a major part of my life and that I was very faithful to the cause.  I have three boys 8, 11 and 12 and they always traveled with me to all MEA activities along with my husband. 

7. Would you encourage other teachers to get involved in the ROEA and MEA?
I definitely encourage members to get involved.  I suggest attending some of the conferences sponsored by MEA to learn more about the organization.  I also recommend strong involvement at the local level starting by attending the ROEA meetings and certainly all general membership meetings to get to know your rights as a teacher.  Again, I strongly believe that I am a better teacher from all that I have learned over the last 20 years of involvement in the organization.  I strongly recommend showing your support for what has been accomplished for us and for what yet has to be accomplished by being supportive.  Not only by contributing through the annual dues but also supportive of PAC and contributing as every political decision affects us and the students we teach.

Bertha is in the midst of a remarkable career of service to her students and fellow teachers.  She continues as an MEA Executive board member and serves on several MEA commissions.  Our thanks to Bertha, an exemplary union teacher.

Cadine Nicholson
Editor
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