Ashley Grievance Hearing Masks Larger Issues For Teachers

Over 30 people, many of them teachers, turned out to observe a special Town School Board meeting this week, which was held to hear a grievance from Academy School teacher Lauren Ashley. Ashley, a veteran of 27 years, filed the grievance after a disputed process involving her performance evaluations earlier this year. Usually hearings that involve personnel matters are held behind closed doors, but Ashley opted to have hers in open session.

School Board Chair Margaret Atkinson acted quickly to quell any off-topic discussion by members of the public, saying that due to open meeting law, no comment from the public would be accepted. “These are perilous times for public schools,” she said, but that the time to talk about it was not this hearing. “Please remain respectful,” she warned the audience.

Ashley and her attorney requested that the public be allowed to speak, noting that many people had attended to do just that, including parents and teachers who could attest to the quality of her teaching. The board agreed to reconsider, and entered executive session to discuss the matter. After 20 minutes, the board returned and Atkinson announced that in confirmation of her earlier announcement, they had decided not to allow members of the public to speak.

Ashley herself was limited, for the most part, to the narrow terms of her grievance, a matter of contractual obligation and timelines with regard to the performance evaluation process. This narrow focus masked a larger issue about the way our local school system is treating teachers under the new accountability-driven federal policies. The full scope of Ashley’s grievance would perhaps have been more clear had the board permitted her to read her prepared letter during closing arguments. They did not let her finish but she read enough to make it clear that the issue was larger than her own situation:

“It’s a great sorrow to be here tonight. I believe in public education. In the past, the relationship between administrators and teachers was supportive. In the last seven years, that’s changed. People won’t speak out due to fear of retaliation. Why is staff turnover so high? Why so many young teachers?”

Atkinson asked her to stick to the grievance. “If you want me to stop, I’ll be quiet,” said Ashley. “I want you to stop,” Atkinson replied.

In the absence of any substantive discussion, the hearing remained largely confined to the dry sparring of attorneys, with occasional directives from Atkinson to keep discussion to the confines of the grievance. Ashley tried, more than once, to get the board to hear the larger issues, but Atkinson stood firm. Near tears, Ashley said that without being able to discuss the context of her grievance, the hearing was all but meaningless.

Meanwhile, members of the public watched quietly, with occasional murmurs of agreement or disagreement the only comments heard from that quarter during the nearly three hour meeting.

The Official Grievance

According to both sides, Academy School principal Andrew Paciulli had scheduled teacher Lauren Ashley for an evaluation year, meaning that she would be observed teaching and be evaluated on that performance during the 2012-2013 academic year. It’s a matter of contention whether they told Ashley this before the October 1, 2012 deadline but she later received three observations between January and March of 2013 of which she was informed.

Ashley’s evaluations cited performance problems; Paciulli determined that she was in need of improvement in establishing routines, organization, and creating “a welcoming learning environment.” He also cited her “interpersonal communication skills” as a shortcoming. When asked what actions Paciulli had taken to help Ashley improve her performance, he said that he had given her a book and video called “The Skillful Teacher” back in January but questioned whether she had taken advantage of the lessons contained there.

It was the final March evaluation and the “summative evaluation report” a few weeks later that led to the grievance that Ashley then filed on May 26, following a warning in writing from her lawyer to the school board that she intended to do so. Prior to that, on April 22, Ashley took a medical leave of absence for stress-related issues and did not return to the classroom for the remainder of the year. Paciulli admitted under questioning from attorney Appel that he had referred Ashley for psychiatric evaluation prior to the start of the current school year. Ashley did not appear to regard the referral as a gesture of support.

Ashley’s formal grievance is couched in very limited legal terms, contending that school administration failed in their contractual obligation to alert her to her to various milestones in the evaluation process and that she was singled out for special treatment. The school system, represented by Ron Stahley, Windham County Southeast School Superintendent, contends that her grievances are without merit in the legal sense, and that the school administrators, as far as he could tell, provided her with timely notice and acted without bias. He argued further that Ashley was late filing her grievance, although her lawyer countered that his letter to them three weeks before the official grievance paperwork was filed should have constituted warning that she intended to do so. Ashley’s attorney also argued that the “improvement plan” which school administrators are required to provide to teachers deemed in need of improvement was filed over a month after the summative evaluation which found her wanting.

As remedy, Ashley wants her 2013 performance evaluations struck from her official record.

Although Superintendent Ron Stahley has recommended that Lauren Ashley’s grievance be denied, the School Board has a statutory obligation to issue their own decision within six days of the meeting.

The Unofficial Grievance

The school board focused on the official grievance, but Ashley continued to try to make them aware of the underlying issues. The reason Ashley was there and the reason the room was full of teachers witnessing the hearing was not about contract issues, Ashley said, but about the unsupportive atmosphere many teachers in our schools feel today. Her plight has been especially meaningful to older teachers who say they feel pushed out by the current administration. For the last several years, many Brattleboro teachers have been offered buyouts. Others, especially paraprofessionals and adjuncts, have found themselves consolidated out of a job due to budget cuts.

On one of several breaks during the meeting, one retired teacher stated a common understanding, that older teachers are the first to go because they have the highest salaries. But, she pointed out, with them go years of experience. Another teacher said that she didn’t think the schools wanted experienced teachers anymore and that, in her view, they preferred the younger, more malleable teachers being hired to replace them.

At issue in the debate is the matter of respect, as retired teacher Diana Mazzuchi said in her Letter to the Editor last week. Ashley’s own remarks clarified further: “It has to do with showing a pattern and a history of micromanagement. We want you to know the toll this takes on teachers. The mechanism to fix these problems is broken.”

Ashley’s attorney elaborated on the “broken system” claim, saying that a teacher who feels unfairly treated by administration and whose complaint does not hinge on bias based on age, race, or gender has effectively no recourse. In other words, in the current case, if the board charged with oversight of the public schools cannot or will not hear the whole story, then teachers such as Lauren Ashley are left with nowhere to turn.

Chair Atkinson made it clear that the School Board is aware of problems in the schools, including the complaints being made by experienced teachers. Although she would not allow the audience or even Ashley to talk about it during the hearing, she said that the public was welcome to come to a 7 o’clock meeting Tuesday night at the Brattleboro Food Co-op where she hinted they would be allowed to speak in some fashion. The meeting is being billed as a planning meeting, however, which implies that public comment could be limited to plans for a future meeting. However, as it stands, this is the only option for people who want to speak sooner rather than later.

As for Lauren Ashley, she returns to the classroom Monday to resume teaching, with her grievance process nearing an end, at least as far as the Brattleboro school system is concerned.