PSEA: KCSD illegally retaliated against union leaders; district “respectfully disagrees”
From staff reports
BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP, PA – The Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board has ruled in favor of the teachers’ union in the Keystone Central School District, in an action brought by the Association of Clinton County Educators in March of 2021. The Pennsylvania State Education Association on Monday released a statement on the issue, detailing the results from a state hearing board examiner about union allegations that district superintendent Dr. Jacquelyn Martin had committed two unfair labor practices in her dealing with union leadership.
Superintendent Martin responded to The Record later Monday and said the district “respectfully disagrees with the hearing examiner’s decision. She said the district has “chosen not to appeal this decision to which the only outcome could be to reinstate the minimal discipline that documented the incident. It is our belief that the use of our resources would not be of any benefit to the district, the students, or the taxpayers.”
The statement from the PSEA is below, followed by Superintendent Martin’s response:
MILL HALL – The Pennsylvania State Education Association released the following statement on behalf of the Association of Clinton County Educators, which accuses the Keystone Central School District of illegally retaliating against union leaders:
Union leaders have prevailed in unfair labor practice charges that were filed against the Keystone Central School District for disciplinary action imposed upon union leaders for being critical of superintendent Dr. Jacqueline Martin in an e-mail to union members’ private email accounts in 2021.
The Association of Clinton County Educators (ACCE), the union which represents the district’s 315 educators, filed the Unfair Labor Practice charges with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board (PLRB) in March 2021. The Unfair Labor Practices concerned anti-Union animus and attempts to interfere in union business.
According to the 25-page report by Pennsylvania Labor Relations Hearing Examiner Jack E. Marino, the KCSD has been ordered immediately to “cease and desist” any actions intended to interfere, intimidate, coerce, or silence the communications between local union leaders and their members. Marino found the District to have committed two unfair labor practices in violation of the Public Employee Relations Act.
“This is a win for all union members. By law, union members have the protected right to engage in concerted activity and that includes communicating with their own members about their opinions of management or policies,” said Amy Marshall, an attorney for the Pennsylvania State Education Association, which represents ACCE leaders. “This was clearly an attempt to bully and intimidate union leaders by threatening retaliation if they criticize administrators.”
Marino’s report stated that “union criticism of management is protected speech under state labor law” and that the role of the union leadership is to be a “watchdog” over Dr. (Jacqueline) Martin’s behavior and performance as it relates to employees.
“The unfair labor practice charges were filed with the PLRB after five ACCE leaders were called to a meeting with Dr. Martin and Human Resources Director Mark Condo. The teachers were disciplined for the contents of a private union email, written jointly by the union officers, sent on private computers on a Saturday. The email was sent only to members’ personal email accounts.
The union email acknowledged that members were upset and concerned about a public email that Martin sent out, in which some members felt Martin had questioned the accountability of teachers during the district’s COVID shutdown.
After a disciplinary meeting, each union leader received a letter of discipline in their personnel file and a “Needs Improvement” on their professional teaching evaluation, citing a lack of professionalism.
In the letter of discipline that Martin and Condo had placed in the files of the union leaders, it was written: “It is expected that you will cease and desist any negative comments or communication towards Dr. Martin, administration or staff of the Keystone Central School District.” The letter further threatened: “Please consider this formal notice that should you engage in any like or similar conduct in the future, progressive discipline steps will be taken and recommendation for further discipline steps will be taken and a recommendation for further disciplinary action up to and including dismissal maybe recommended.”
The disciplinary letters placed into the files of the union leaders went on to cite violation of five school board policies. Marino clearly saw through this and stated:
“[A]n examination of the cited policies shows that none of the policies were applicable or violated, yielding the inference that they were cited as pretextual reasons to justify the retaliatory discipline imposed on the 5 Union officers in this case.” Marino goes on to state that the use of these policies as justification for the disciplinary letter “further demonstrates a strong inference of anti-Union animus’… and “attempted to provide layers of cover to hide the District’s retaliatory motive and its campaign to control, if not crush, Union messaging and communication.”
Martin testified at the labor board hearing that she felt the union’s criticism of her public email created a hostile work environment and had inhibited her ability to improve morale. However, Examiner Marino disagreed and wrote:
Perhaps, openly accepting criticism could just as speculatively have the opposite effect, and highly educated teachers could develop more respect for a Superintendent that accepted criticism and welcomed transparent debate as part of a comprehensive plan to improve morale, communication and trust.”
Union leaders testified at the hearings that after the discipline they were fearful that the Administration would retaliate against leaders for any discussions of controversial issues with their membership.
According to Marino’s report, “A Union cannot function in a representative capacity if the leadership fears reprisal for candid, honest opinions about the administration in formulating the Union’s goals and policies for its members moving forward. This discipline has a very real effect on terms and conditions of employment by determining the level of future progressive discipline and professional opportunities.” Marino goes on to say: “Dr. Martin is trying to subjugate the Union leadership to her will by disciplining the officers for routine protected activity.”
The District was ordered to “cease and desist” from these unfair labor practices, to remove the disciplinary letters and the negative evaluations from the records of the five ACCE officers, to post a copy of the decision in every building, and to file an affidavit of compliance with the Labor Board.
Contacted by The Record, Superintendent Martin on Monday issued this statement:
The District was notified of the decision rendered by a hearing officer of the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board concerning the complaint filed by the Association of Clinton County Educators. Although the hearing officer found that the discipline imposed was unwarranted, we respectfully disagree with the decision. We continue to believe that the minor disciplinary actions imposed on the employees were appropriate and reasonable.
The District has chosen not to appeal this decision to which the only outcome could be to reinstate the minimal discipline that documented the incident. It is our belief that the use of our resources would not be of any benefit to the district, the students, or the taxpayers. Consequently, the District is already in compliance with the hearing officer’s decision and the incident is now public.
As the superintendent of the Keystone Central School District, I took an oath to uphold the federal, state and local statutes, laws and policies that govern our school district. I am charged with many duties, including ensuring employee accountability for an efficient and effective school system. I remain committed to carrying out my responsibilities even though change can be difficult and not all decisions will be popular.
