Union Pushes Back At Forti Claim Outside Teachers Protested

EAST HAVEN, CT - During the East Haven Board of Education meeting Tuesday night on schools reopening superintendent Erica Forti said that the hundreds of teachers protesting Tuesday night outside the high school auditorium included teachers from other districts.

Prompted by a member who said, “...I just want to make one point about whose outside. It’s not all East Haven teachers, am I right?”

Forti: “It’s a statewide thing.”

“So once their union gets involved, the people from their union come and support them.”

Forti said union members came from across the state.

The East Haven Education Association said that was not only a “misstatement” but that other school district are not seeing teachers protesting, “because those districts are ensuring safe working conditions.”

Playback to a specific point in the YouTube video of the meeting is disabled by the school district. The point in the meeting comes at the 2:28:38 mark.

“I would expect a correction at your next Board meeting. Please inform the Board and the public that it was ONLY their own employees demonstrating," she said in the letter obtained by Patch.

"It is their own employees who have been ignored and disrespected. It is their own employees who participated in a sham process for requests for reasonable accommodations. It is their own employees who received dirty face shield for protection. It is their own employees who want a safe return to work. There have not been other demonstrations in other districts because those districts are ensuring safe working conditions. East Haven is not!”

Presented to the board Tuesday, the petition reads in part: "A full re-opening unnecessarily puts the health of all our teachers and students at risk, especially high-risk teachers who need accommodations. There’s no way to guarantee the kids will socially distance or keep their masks on."

The union said, "Instead of using an outside company, Edgenuity, to deliver instruction to students learning remotely, it just makes sense to use high risk teachers who are familiar with the curriculum and students. All students deserve to be taught by certified teachers who can provide individualized learning, including students who are learning remotely."

The concern is that a full reopening puts teachers in high-risk categories, like those who are over 60 or have underlying health issues, in harm's way.

"East Haven is one of very few districts in the state to have a full reopening," the petition reads.

"The buildings aren’t ready, we aren’t fully prepared, and teacher anxiety is through the roof – over 75% of teachers are very concerned about returning to school. It is paramount to protect one another, our families, our students and the community. Please reconsider the reopening plan."

Social distancing in an auditorium versus in a classroom

At the meeting held in the high school auditorium, a venue for hundreds but restricted as a coronavirus safety measure by the local health department to just 25 people including board members and schools administrators, just a few teachers addressed the board during the public comment portion of the agenda.

Playback to a specific point in the YouTube video of the meeting is disabled by the school district. The point in the meeting comes at the 2:17:06 mark.

One was Michael Archambault, East Haven Academy teacher and union vice president. He pointed out that it was an irony that only 25 were allowed to safely be in an assembly hall while numerous students and a teacher are expected to social distance in a classroom a fraction of the size.

Archambault also told the board that teachers at risk were told to take a year of unpaid leave, resign or retire.

At the very end of the board meeting, where members agreed to talk about teachers concerns while noting they were blind-sided by teacher concerns, a schools' administrator said no teachers were asked or told to resign.

During some cross-talk, members said that they had heard no complaints from teachers until Sunday.

“We didn't hear from any teachers prior to Sunday. We got nothing I was taken like, Oh, my goodness. Some of what was said here ...is this true? We’re presented with information that we have no idea. Did anybody come before you that said they were angry? Can you validate: were they told, ‘Oh, you have to resign now?’ I can’t imagine that but …”

Another item Archambault had mentioned was raised. He said that grievances had been filed against Forti and the board.

“Yeah, didn't one of them say they had submitted a grievance because something was ignored?”

Forti provided a general explanation suggesting that she thought Zoom meetings and calls were part of a negotiation process but later made talks formal.

The union said in a letter to the board Wednesday that it was, “...forced to file two Unfair Labor Practices against the East Haven Board of Education for violations of the teacher Negotiations Act."

The first, a "refusal to bargain," was because the union said the school district administration "demonstrated anti-union animus when the EHEA President requested reasonable accommodation in accordance with the American With Disabilities Act," the letter reads.

"The second violation occurred when the Superintendent refused to negotiate and then stalled in setting up negotiation meetings with the EHEA President,” the letter reads.

See both complaints filed with the state Board of Labor Relations here.

East Haven - Union Animus by Ellyn Santiago

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Archambault told Patch Wednesday morning that teachers would show up for work Tuesday.

"If nothing changes, we will be at school on Tuesday providing the students of East Haven with the high quality of education that they are accustomed to," he said. "However, we will continue to make certain that our concerns are expressed by our members."