Friday, August 20, 1999
Teachers union sues schools
Newly hired placed before some in pool
BY DANA DiFILIPPO
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The Cincinnati Federation of Teachers accused the Cincinnati Board of Education of breach of contract Thursday, asking a judge to stop the district from hiring new teachers until it places 28 unassigned elementary teachers.
The complaint, filed in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court, also seeks to recover lost pay for those unassigned teachers who could have been placed in vacancies filled by new teachers in the 1999-2000 school year.
The district has hired 53 new elementary teachers this year, according to the union.
Under the union's contract, veteran teachers must be placed in vacancies — as long as they're qualified — before new hires.
Teachers can be placed in the unassigned, or “surplus,” pool for reasons ranging from academic program changes to school reorganiza tion. The surplus status does not reflect job performance.
District counsel John Concannon called the court complaint a “dramatic but improper way to make their point.” Union members should file a grievance or seek intervention from the State Employment Relations Board, Mr. Concannon said.
Besides, the unassigned teachers will be placed, possibly as long-term or daily substitutes. (Long-term subs remain with one class for more than 20 days.)
They just haven't been placed in their preferred positions, Mr. Concannon said.
“Just because you've been around for X number of years doesn't mean you get to pick where you work,” Mr. Concannon said. “These people are all guaranteed jobs for next year, and we will not have people sitting around doing nothing.”
But union leaders say administrators' refusal to place the 28 veteran teachers proves a lack of concern.
“We can continue to try to work out our relationship with the administration, but if efforts aren't being made on their end, we can't keep smiling at each other and let teachers be abused in the meantime,” said Rick Beck, the union's bargaining chairman.
New hires at Clifton and Parham elementaries especially are objectionable, Mr. Beck said.
The two schools closed this summer and will reopen this month with new academic programs and staff under a districtwide redesign plan targeting persistently failing schools.
Under a contract amendment union members ratified in February,faculty in redesigned schools must first be chosen from the district's pool of 3,500 teachers.
Yet with 28 veterans on the surplus list, about 10 new teachers were hired as part of the schools' staffs this year, Mr. Beck said.
CFT leaders and administrators have been increasingly at odds in a district where the union historically has wielded a lot of power.
Superintendent Steven Adamowski frequently describes union regulations as “an enemy” of schools' autonomy and has made several policy decisions some say aim to weaken the union. Under a new charter-school policy, for example, new district-approved charter schools do not have to hire union faculty.
News of Thursday's court complaint left some supporters wincing, especially as the district prepares to launch a levy campaign. The district will ask voters to approve a $21.3 million tax increase in November.
“Any type of infighting is bad for passing a levy, but it's even more bad for our kids,” said Ron Felder, a downtown resident who has supported the district in past levy campaigns as a member of Cincinnatians Active to Support Education.
“There are too many agendas at the table besides educating our kids.”
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