LINCOLN, Maine – The attorney representing RSU 67 in a complaint before the Maine Labor Relations Board is as dismissive of accusations that Superintendent Denise Hamlin tried to intimidate union members and otherwise violate state law as Hamlin was earlier this week.
A copy of the response to the complaint the Maine Education Association filed with the board shows that school board attorney Peter C. Felmley urges the board to reject the complaint filed on behalf of Ella P. Burr School second-grade teacher Jodi Bisson last month.
Felmley’s response states that Hamlin and the RSU 67 board of directors acted in good faith and that elements of Bisson’s complaint should be deferred because they are part of other union complaints against Hamlin and RSU 67 and because an arbitration session has been set for late July.
However, according to the response document, RSU 67 officials admitted that “consistent with standard practice,” Bisson was placed on administrative leave with full pay pending the outcome of “an investigation into allegations of misconduct” for about two weeks last fall.
“Due to the nature of the allegations against Ms. Bisson, she was asked not to be on school grounds (including the school soccer fields) until the investigation was completed,” Felmley’s response states.
In the union complaint, attorney Shawn Keenan accused Hamlin of wrongfully denying Bisson access to school property — including Bisson’s daughter’s soccer game. The complaint also accuses Hamlin of recognizing Bisson’s union representative, teacher Holly Leighton, as only a “guest and only allowed to speak out of courtesy” during a disciplinary meeting.
Felmley’s response does not reveal the allegations or how they related to Bisson’s access to school grounds.
The union complaint also accuses Hamlin of having transferred Bisson involuntarily to another assignment, of rejecting grievances because they weren’t on proper forms and of “interrogating” other union members to discourage them from discussing Bisson’s disciplinary issue.
These actions undermine union activities as permitted by law and represent violations of civil laws as well, Keenan said.
In a statement released late last week, Hamlin said she was confident that the accusations would prove to be “frivolous and thinly-veiled attacks on the superintendent and school board. We are confident that when the facts of the matter are presented they will be seen for what they are.”
The union might gain a substantial victory over the regional school unit because Felmley’s response got to the labor relations board a day past its deadline, said Marc Ayotte, the board’s executive director.
Keenan said he plans to file a motion seeking the response’s dismissal on those grounds. If the board agrees to Keenan’s motion, Ayotte said, the labor board would accept Keenan’s complaint as representing what happened between Hamlin and Bisson and rule on whether Hamlin’s actions in Keenan’s version of events violated state labor laws.
However, Felmley will have a chance to file a countermotion to Keenan’s motion to dismiss, arguing why a dismissal should not occur, Ayotte said.
No hearing date for Bisson’s complaint has been set. The nine-member labor relations board is appointed by the governor, confirmed by the Legislature and meets as needed – usually every few months, Ayotte said.
The goals of the teachers union machine are not academic excellence, professional development and fairness. As former NEA official John Lloyd explained it: “You cannot possibly understand NEA without understanding Saul Alinsky. If you want to understand NEA, go to the library and get ‘Rules for Radicals.’” The goals are student indoctrination, social upheaval and perpetual agitation in pursuit of bigger government and spending without restraint.
http://sleepless.blogs.com/george/2009/08/alinskys-rules-for-radicals-for-dummies.html
The NEA is the greatest impediment to the education of our citizenry.
I believe woefully ill-informed citizens with no respect for education, the teachers, and the union that represent their interests like yourself are the greatest impediment to the education of our citizenry. Superintendent Hamlin is a classic example of why teachers’ Unions exist and need to exist.
It would be impossible for me to prove my credentials, however I will say that I have ample experience on both sides of the NEA tale. As a former educator, parent of high school students attending public school, sibling of current and former public and private school teachers and daughter, granddaughter and niece of retired public school teachers and wife of a school board director of 14 years I maintain my position that the NEA is a detriment to our education system.
Well that explains it. Wife of a school board director. Of course you would like to blame the teachers’ union for your husband’s failings in the school district.
So, out of the 4 lines of qualifications, you picked the one that would back your case. Obviously, a product of the NEA teaching model.
Do you want me to address the others? Fine, USED to be a teacher. Great for how long? There is a reason she couldn’t hack it, and it wasn’t the teachers’ Union. Perhaps if she could have worked to strengthen her Union instead of undermine it her working conditions would have permitted her to stay. Niece, sibling, grand daughter of a retired teacher… yawn. I am the cousin of a meth dealer, it doesn’t mean I support him or understand him. Parent… sure as a parent tell us how the Union affects your student’s ability to learn. Chances are, any real problem that exists is because of the incompetence of administration and the school board that backs them. IF you want to see real educational reform that gets results, ensure that a third of school board seats are reserved for teachers of the school, a third for parents, and a third for local business leaders. If you believe we need better teachers, make certain that the teachers’ pay scale takes 5 years to get to the top to keep good teachers in the classroom (26 years and a masters degree to get to the low 50k mark isn’t going to attract too many people to the profession). We have been practicing the same conservative led education reform for the past 30 years, it isn’t working. It is time to create real learning communities in our schools that compensate teachers adequately to attract the best candidates and gives them a legitimate voice in the school as well as the community stakeholders who have the most to gain or lose.
Ah yes, what a great idea! Have teachers be on their own school boards so they can set the standards they want, the expectations and goals they want, AND set their own salaries. What a great idea. Give me a break.
Actually Seabreezes you can see by the breakdown a third of each member that no one entity would be able to set policy. So if the teachers’ demands were unreasonable a coalition of parents and business members of the community could stop them. I realize having people with a background in education and an idea of the developmental needs of the school is off putting to some people, however if we continue doing what we have been doing we will continue down this path into school board ineptidude. In other words, “If you always do what you have always done; you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”
You know for a while there I thought that Superintendent Denise Hamlin might be guilty of wrongdoing at RSU 67 (And most every other school she’s worked in as an administrator) but now that I hear that her hired gun (LAWYER) thinks she’s fine and dandy, well she must be, right? I mean a LAWYER, politician, or an administrator would never tell half truths, lie by omission, or lie flat out would they? Oh no, NEVER!
“So are they all, all honorable men….” WS
Hmmm…could the reverse be true? That the union’s lawyer would never tell half truths, lie by omission, or lie flat out? Hmmmm
Why would the Union decide to start representing someone who was not a member unless the school was doing something egregiously wrong?
Because they apparently believe the employee. Doesn’t mean to say she’s telling the truth. Also, because they saw it as an opportunity to disparage an administrator and start the ball rolling for other types of lawsuits within the state. Doing that supposedly would then give the union some leverage with the governor. Foolish union mentality.
This has nothing to do with the union but with civil rights like “freedom of speech”.
Free speech? Where do you get that?
Well if you didn’t know about that part of the issue, you really do need to do some investigating.
Oh, and let’s not forget, she quickly became a member of the union and, because she was a teacher, she fell under the union contract whether or not she paid dues.
Talking to teachers who left the district and teachers still in the district I can tell you that there is a reason the Union took on her case. It isn’t because it is transferable to other cases throughout the state. The Super is incompetent and corrupt and clearly so is the board who backs her. Before you even try and disparage the teachers who have left, let me tell you they have been picked up in some of the most competitive districts in the state that receive hundreds of applicants for each open position.
Nice to see you’re following the pack, making assumptions. I have not disparaged the teachers who have left. I have no problem with anybody who has left the district. Some are retiring. Some got other jobs that were clearly a step up in their profession for them. Good for them. I wish them well.
No, I am not making assumptions. I am talking to people who actually have first hand experience working for the Super. It is nice to see you trying to dismiss anything that doesn’t fit your assumption.
The assumptions to which I am referring is that you are assuming that what you are being told is the truth. Can you at least acknowledge that there is a possibility that you do not have all the facts? I try never to assume I have all the facts until I’m certain.
The problem is that I am hearing this from multiple sources on different occasions and miles away from each other. There is a real possibility that these first hand sources are wrong. There is also the possibility that Casey Anthony did not kill her child and OJ Simpson is looking for the real killer still. Possible but not at all probable or likely.
Okay. Well, you are entitled to your opinion, as am I. I guess we will have to agree that this will most definitely not be settled on the BDN web site. Time will tell, I hope. But it is entirely possible that after this is all done, neither side will be able to talk about the details and no one will really know.
You definitely are not coming across that way.
That could be, and I think writing things instead of saying them in person accounts for most of that, so I’m sorry if what I am writing comes off badly, but what I’m trying to do is open up some ideas…that perhaps people are not considering there might be another side. The problem is, when other sides are presented, people tend to get their dander up. That’s human nature. I strive very hard to assume there is another side to every story, and I’m always open to another person’s take on things, I’ve even been swayed to a different way of thinking on occasion, but I expect the same in return. I rarely get it, especially in this instance. It does seem to me that the people who are most up in arms about this whole thing are the least likely to listen to another side of the story. I know I’m generalizing here, and I don’t like to do that, but I haven’t found anyone willing to consider there might actually be another side. Closed minds. It’s sad.
Maybe they did get good jobs or retire but it wasn’t their choice for most of them.
Let’s assume all of what you say is true. Have you not had a boss you disliked for whatever reason? You have choices. Stay and try to work it out, accept it, or move on. That’s life. I certainly have worked for people I really loved and people that were awful bosses. Sometimes I stayed. Sometimes I chose to leave. You do what you have to do, but one thing is for certain, you don’t always get what you want. You make choices. That’s the choice they made.
Except in this case, it is the children that suffer!!!!!
“Felmley’s response got to the labor relations board a day past its deadline,”This guy must be quite the lawyer. He didn’t even file an answer in the appropiate time period. Sometime when you get a traffic ticket or any type of summons that commands you to be in court on a specific date try showing up the next day and see what happens.
The very reason why teacher’s unionize is here. Teacher’s, caught between parent’s ego’s and expectation’s and society’s demand’s, needed a way to teach without being constantly accused of ‘corrupting my child’s values’. Every time a teacher teach’s they expose themselves to parent’s ‘sitting-on-the-shoulder’ intimidation and family value’s based perception’s. Add a School Principal’s ego that gets carried away with their authority and the stage is set for the inevitable. Teacher’s need to be left to do what they do best, teach, and be supported by both their own Principal or Superintendent, not henpecked to death. When teacher’s are ‘nitpicked’ constantly it undermines their ability, and in the case of new teacher’s especially, their confidence in their ability to teach. New teacher ‘burnout’ due to this type of ‘support and supervision’ is almost unbelievable and just adds to the problem. It also adds to the problem of teacher retention and the experience that comes with classroom teaching time.
Where, and when, both School Board’s, Superintendent’s, Principal’s and State Labor Board’s begin to realize that the old ‘maximum supervision’ philosophy isin’t working, and is in fact, just making thng’s worse then, and only then, are teacher’s going to be able to do what they do best. namely teach our kid’s what they need. By supporting our teacher’s we increase our kid’s chance’s of success in learning and getting educated. But it also requires us, as parent’s, to provide our kid’s a base to learn from and to use so their education isin’t wasted.
There is soooo much more to this than this one teacher. Hopefully, it will all come out and people will see what truly is going on with the superintendent and the school board. Too many elected officals are getting half-truths and misleading information. Schoolboard members need to get out of their chairs and go find out what is really going on instead of asking the schoolboard chair or the superintendent.
Towns people need to attend the school board meetings. You can watch last weeks on utube. One thing you will see is that they have always read letters of resignation at the school board meetings but last week they chose not to read one. The question is why?? Was there something in it that they didn’t want the public to know?
This district used to be one of the best in this area. . now it is one that people have great concern about. People get informed. . don’t just listen to rumors. . go out and find out first hand what is really going on.
Has anybody’s lawyer NOT stood behind him/her? What a warm, fuzzy feeling it would be to have your lawyer agree with the other guy!! You’d look down to see your own shark biting you…
It’s rather interesting that the article about the lawsuit against the superintendent garnered a whole lot of comments…negative ones toward the superintendent and school board. And yet, an article about “the other side,” gets very few. When faced with facts, when faced with “the other side,” the argument falls apart and they turn and run, as always.
Seabreezes, may I ask what connection you have to the school board or superintendent? Your comments really seem like you “know” some inside information. I am just waiting to hear the “facts” from both sides in a hearing about this. If the superintendent and board have done nothing wrong, we will hear the facts. If they have, it will come out. Rumors are rumors, and I do not put a lot of faith in what I hear. I do believe when a duck quacks. It’s a duck. There has to be some truths with what’s going on on both sides.
I have no connection with either. I used to be on a school board in another state about 15 years ago, and I’m sure they all operate similarly. It’s a very thankless job, riddled with having to make difficult decisions based on ALL the facts and not based on emotions like some would have you do. You know, in the situation where it’s a personnel issue, the school board and superintendent cannot, by law, state their side in public. But the employee can if he/she so chooses. That makes for a very one-sided story out in public. Pretty hard to change people’s minds when you can’t say a thing. I’m quite certain that is no different in this school board. It just angers me that people make assumptions all over the place and never, ever assume that the people who have been elected to the position of school board member are trying to do their very best for the students, the staff and the taxpayer. Why, for once, don’t you assume that is true? Because it’s not convenient, not controversial enough, and doesn’t support the rumor mill. That’s why. Closed minds hear nothing. Open minds hear the truth.
Schoolboard members should talk to teachers and parents so they know what is going on. I would think it’d be hard for them to get the facts if all they hear is one side of the story.
Sometimes they can’t, as the situation might be presented to them in an executive session. Hard to not hear the “other side of the story” in a small town, though.
You are quite correct that the facts will come out. There doesn’t necessarily have to be truth on both sides. I am glad to hear that you do not put a lot of faith in the rumors. I listen to all the facts, and all the facts are not out. So, my frustration comes from seeing one side shouting from the rooftops that they are right, the other side is completely wrong, and we all must just get in line with them. I, for one, will not do that. If it turns out they are right, then so be it. I, at this point, cannot say who is right and who is wrong. I refused to be a lemming. But, there’s a lot of mudslinging going on from one side of this story and that is truly unfair to the school board and superintendent who cannot, by law, say one word.
People who have to deal with someone (Hamlin) who is unethical, dishonest, and deceitful, usually do get riled up quite easily. There are lots of facts to yet come out. Keep watching.
Your comment caused me to want to do some investigating so I did a quick browse of the previous article’s comments . What is actually “rather interesting” is that approximately 164 of the 282 comments were posted by , or in response to either Seabreezes or Mike Ireland. That is around 58% of the comments . looks to me like there are a few who wish to control this issue and think that the louder they are the more “right” they are. This article is identical to the first except that BDN added that the Lawyer agrees with his client and plans to ask for a dismissal. What else do you expect readers to say? There is nothing new here. I Bet these articles and comment sections are really creating true and lasting friendships in Lincoln Maine !!!
“However, according to the response document, RSU 67 officials admitted that “consistent with standard practice,” Bisson was placed on administrative leave with full pay pending the outcome of “an investigation into allegations of misconduct” for about two weeks last fall.”
Without knowing the nature of the allegations, how do we all jump on a bandwagon whether it be pro or anti-union? If allegations of misconduct are made against a teacher, it is the superintendents responsiblity to investigate to protect our children. That is what’s important, right?
Not if it’s a trumped up charge because they don’t want certain teachers in the building because they exercise “their freedom of speech”. You will notice several other teacher’s programs in that building that were friends with said teacher that no longer have a job either.
How would the superintendent know if it was a trumped up charge or not until it was investigated? She had to err on the side of protecting the children. And as far as your other statement goes, one has retired and another has transferred to the jr and sr high schools. Not the same at all. Both by choice.
You really need to do some investigating. . . that is not true at all!!!!
OH GOODY!!!! I Thought I was going to have to wait until the litigation before I read about this situation again!! BDN added that the Lawyer stands by his client (Ummm isn’t that what they get paid to do???) and will file for dismissal of charges (very common tactic) and then re-wrote the first article. I must say I was hoping the comments would pick up where they left off when the comment section was closed for the Last article. Maybe BDN was hoping for the same. ??? I can not wait to find out the details from both sides.. Gotta love small town politics !!!