Comments
to the BOE/March 4, 2014
Good evening, Members of the Board, Dr. Ridder, Members of the
Cabinet.
I’m Kittilu Maxson, a 4th grade teacher, on leave
from the classroom and now serving as president of Springfield NEA. I am proud
to represent the teachers, school nurses and clerical employees of this
district.
As you know, as early as Sept. 1st, 2013, SNEA
issued a request to this board to be involved in the interview process for
selection of a new superintendent. You may also know that we issued objections
to the “blended” process that was presented to us by this board’s leadership.
The process was confusing and has proven to be untimely. While I know from
speaking with Dr. Jungmann yesterday, that an excellent candidate has been
selected, teacher “input”- and representation for that “input”- was determined
exclusively by this board’s leadership.
Many of you may remember that when teachers, counselors and
librarians elected a representative a few years ago, we used a process
that was clearly outlined in policies that this board had approved.
SNEA did not agree with some aspects of the process but we
abided by it to the letter and were duly elected to be the exclusive
representative through a fair election process-a process that was agreed upon
by all parties- including
the district’s legal counsel, who played a major role in putting it together.
Many districts across Missouri now use that model in choosing
employee representatives.
Recently, the district received some unwanted publicity when a
prospective school board candidate contested the validity of the district’s
signature-counting process.
The simple truth was that he and another prospective candidate
had
failed to get enough valid signatures to have their names on the
ballot. Those individuals do not join you here tonight to share “input” on
school board decisions.
Similarly, in every contested board election, some candidates
have failed to get enough votes to serve. Some of those candidates persistently
criticized how this board did its job, and they received thousands of votes, but
that wasn’t enough to share “input” or to serve with you here tonight.
I would like to respectfully remind the board that it is not
this board’s duty to intervene and choose a teacher representative. Teachers
have already done that-and if they wish to change their representative, the
board policy that many of you voted for clearly explains how that may be done.
Springfield NEA is honored to serve the teachers of this
district as their representative in negotiating the best possible agreements
with the district regarding compensation, benefits and working
conditions.
We honor the process that has led to a better understanding of
this district through a respectful dialogue with administration.
We ask that this board honor the representation process that
it put in place years ago, so that we may continue to move forward together
with mutual respect and understanding.
Thank you.
