Supporters of teachers Matt Nelligan and Ann-Marie McManus came back for round two of the fight to reverse their transfer from Guilderland High School to Farnsworth Middle School, at a school board meeting on Monday, July 7.
At the Monday meeting, during which the board convened and then quickly went into executive session, the board decided to reconvene in a public meeting on Monday, July 14, at 8 a.m. to discuss if they can, and will, overturn the superintendent’s decision to transfer the teachers.
They also said a redacted version of the culture climate inquiry, the reason the two teachers are being moved, will be made available.
The teachers said in a written statement that action should have been taken at the July 7 meeting.
`[This] is a cynical delay tactic designed to ride out public outrage over the unjust retaliatory action against us. The delay is insulting to the thousands of Guilderland residents who have already demanded board action. There should be an up or down vote now from all board members on whether they support the transfer,` said Nelligan and McManus in a joint statement.
They also criticized the report against them.
`The climate study has already been discredited. It was designed for cover to retaliate against two teachers with excellent credentials,` they wrote.
The survey was conducted by Michele Paludi of Human Resources Management Solutions.
While the board was in executive session, supporters of the teachers continued to criticize them.
`I’m just disappointed that this is the second week in a row that we are talking to empty chairs,` said Elijah Sharma, a student who has helped organize a Web site to support the two teachers.
Mark Grimm, who sits on the town board, was also critical of the board for not allowing any public comment during the Monday, July 7, meeting. The board did not entertain comments in executive session, as they did during the meeting when the matter was initially brought up.
`In the past they have allowed for public discussion, they don’t even follow their own precedent,` said Grimm.
Grimm is also calling for the videotape of the first meeting, which `went black,` after the crowd had begun to interfere with the meeting. Grimm said he has tried to obtain the footage, normally broadcast on public access channel 16, using a Freedom of Information Law request, and is waiting to hear back.
He also said a YouTube video put together by some students at the high school suggests the tape was destroyed, but there is no way of knowing if that claim is substantiated until his FOIL request is answered.
`Who gave the order to go black? If that tape was destroyed, there is going to be trouble,` Grimm said.
Some spoke out against Superintendent John McGuire, and said he has a history of moving teachers against their will.
John McKenna spoke on behalf of his wife, who was moved by McGuire in the Bethlehem school district. He also cited a Greenwich football coach who was removed from his team by McGuire.
`Put the blame where it belongs. This man has a history,` said McKenna.
A student joked they were going to have to sit under McGuire’s car in order for anything to get done. McManus told him to `behave,` pointing out that might be the last time she gets to teach to a high school student.
Others were more concerned with the lack of procedure for the transfer.
`There is a blatant disrespect for due process here. There is definitely a section for voluntary transfers. We have to have a real concern when there is a blatant disregard for contract language,` said Mary Ellen Mallia, a former social studies teacher at the school.
One teacher, who asked not to be named, said she was appalled that the teachers union was not present at the meeting to address the issues facing the two teachers.
Patricia Hill, who attended the meeting on the last day of the school year that featured an announcement that there would be `changes,` in the district, said the environment the administration created was worse than anything the two teachers could have done.
McManus said the only reason she was given for the transfer was the third-party investigation. She said she and Nelligan had not planned on coming for the second meeting in order to give the board time to process what has happened. She said the decision to show up was solely to thank all of her supporters.
`I can’t think of any better example of empowering students,` she said.
`I’m amazed and gratified by the support. There was not organization done by us [the teachers]. The students deserve all the credit for that,` said Nelligan.
Nelligan said he does not deserve the transfer, and believes McManus, who was on maternity leave during the culture climate inquiry, is being used by the administration to make it seem he is not being singled out.
`This is an obvious attempt to silence me and punish me,` he said. `Our department is the most cohesive. We were vocal. We came out and to the meetings. It’s an obvious attempt to divide and conquer.`
Nelligan has been critical of the relationship between the union and the administration.
`[Former union president] Chris Clause and I have had a very public disagreement on how the union was run. The district and union take a common line to things,` said Nelligan.
He said the union would not speak out against job cuts, but instead took the side of the administration.
`They know I’m a critic of theirs,` he said.
Claus has since retired from the teachers union.
Both teachers said they were proud that the lessons they taught to their students were being put into practice. Their supporters echoed that sentiment.
`So many people won’t get off their butts, and do anything about what they know is wrong in the world, said Kevin Chandler, a former student at the high school 30 years ago. `Tonight they did.`
Chandler said he was shocked at how motivated the students were and said he was proud to have been a part of the school.“
