Outside an Employee Relations Committee meeting, Tuesday night, June 24, several angry CSEA labor union members voiced concern to Spotlight Newspapers about the district’s unanimous decision to reinstate Director of Facilities Tim Bonk after complaints of his alleged harassment toward several North Colonie employees.
The union members, who claimed that they could only speak on the condition of anonymity out of what they described as fear that they might lose their jobs, said that they were told the meeting, in which Shaker High School Hall Monitor Linda Mancuso had planned to speak up about the reinstatement, began at 8 p.m.
According to Assistant Superintendent for Business Thomas Rybaltowski, meetings have never taken place at 8 p.m. and only begin at either 7 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. This meeting, district officials said, was originally scheduled for 7:30 p.m. But Rybaltowski said that after hearing that Mancuso had planned to speak up at the meeting before the Board of Education went into executive session, the board had planned to move the meeting to a new location which supported a larger capacity, and earlier in time to 7:00 p.m. so that the board could attend to its regular business, leaving Mancuso enough time to speak.
But the union members were unaware of the time change, according to Mancuso. We thought the meeting was at eight o’clock, she said, `I was given permission to speak and they changed the time without telling us. I’m done. I’ve said what I had to say.`
According to Rybaltowski, the member of personnel who typically posts Web site updates on meeting times and locations happened to be away on vacation this week, though officials had thought the Web site was being updated by another member of personnel. Rybaltowski said the change in time was decided over a week ago.
Superintendent of Schools Randy Ehrenberg said that the board still ended up waiting 30 minutes for Mancuso, whom Ehrenberg said was planning to speak around 7:30 p.m., to arrive and speak, and once arrived, had said what she had to say. According to Ehrenberg, no other union members stood during the visitors statements to speak their minds.
But at 8 p.m., outside the Goodrich School and district office, Mancuso was one of several CSEA union members who sought answers from the district.
CSEA Labor Relations Specialist Linda Mosher, a representative assigned to the North Colonie School District, said, `The school district has not seen fit to share with CSEA the details or conditions of Mr.Bonk’s return to work. CSEA is filing a FOIL [Freedom of Information Law] request with the district seeking details of the settlement agreement. Bargaining unit members are reluctant to speak to the media for fear of retaliation.`
Ehrenberg said she did not understand why any union member would fear retaliation from the district, stating firmly that, `The North Colonie School District is not a place that believes in retaliation.`
The employee, Tim Bonk, is said, by Mancuso, to be reinstated to his position as director of facilities on July 28.
Gregg Johnson, an attorney with Girvin and Ferlazzo, PC, who has been offering legal counsel to the district,
said the district has delt with the matter as a personnel issue after completing an investigation of Mr.Bonk, as well as another employee, Chris Demetreus, the former Director of Custodial Services, who has since resigned from his position. The investigation was completed earlier this month. The Board of Education unanimously passed resolutions both accepting the resignation of Demetreus and the reinstatement of Bonk at its last regular School Board meeting on Monday, June 16.
Ehrenberg would not discuss details of the complaints filed against Bonk, nor his reinstatement, as she said the district is not allowed to discuss personnel matters to the public.
The next meeting between employees in the CSEA union and district officials is scheduled for July 15, though according to Rybaltowski, the decision to have Bonk reinstated has already been `unanimously decided on.`
`We have no say in that,` said Mosher, `We voiced our concerns, but obviously they fell on deaf ears.`
The CSEA labor union encompasses all non-instructional employees in the district. According to Rybaltowski, there are about 225 union members in the district.
To read more on this story, view https://www.spotlightnews.com/spotlightnews/article.php?article_id=tI1215029330t486be05227118
For more on this story, check back at www.spotlightnews.com, or read the July 2 print edition of the Colonie Spotlight.
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