Central Falls, RI, teachers union sues superintendent to block firings

[FBaggins]

CENTRAL FALLS — The teachers union filed suit Wednesday in U.S. District Court to block the mass firing of high school teachers ordered by School Supt. Frances Gallo.

Her action violates constitutionally guaranteed rights to due process and freedom of speech, as well as federal education law that prohibits states or local school districts from altering collective-bargaining agreements, according to the complaint filed by Marc Gursky, lawyer for the Central Falls Teachers Union.

...snip...

According to the lawsuit, the Constitution and the collective-bargaining agreement require the district to give each individual teacher a cause for dismissal, as well as an opportunity for a due-process hearing.

...snip...

But the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, in allowing states to allocate federal funds to local schools for improvement, bars any action that would compromise the existing protections of teachers, according to the lawsuit.


More - http://www.projo.com/news/content/CENTRAL_FALLS_TEACHERS_SUE_04-29-10_2CI9L62_v14.3bb5523.html

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. Good

[Reader Rabbit]

2. They should also file a civil lawsuit.

Maybe if someone duns these ignorant, arrogant corporate wannabes for a huge chunk of change, they'll stop scapegoating teachers and start listening to them, instead.

[FBaggins]

3. On what grounds?

You can't sue a government official for following legal guidelines. You CAN sue to say that those guielines are unconstitutional, but I can't see what the civil action would be.

[Reader Rabbit]

4. Wrongful termination

From WrongfulTermination.com

You should seriously consider seeking a lawyer to get additional advice if several of the following criteria are met:

3. You believe you were terminated in violation of a contract or explicit promise concerning the duration of your employment or the circumstance under which you could be terminated.
...

7. You believe your employer violated their company’s stated termination policies (for example, you did not receive two written warnings, and your employee handbook specifically states that each terminated employee should receive such.)

8. You believe you were fired for being in involved in organizing a union.

9. You believe it is going to take many months or years to find comparable employment and thus the economic harm you are going to suffer is significant.

10. You have sustained serious emotional injuries as a result of how you were treated at work.

11. You worked for the employer for many years.

The number one reason on their list is discrimination, and I honestly believe teachers could make a legitimate claim in that category, as well: At a high school, students attend school roughly eight hours a day, 180 days per school year. Even if you assume each student sleeps eight hours out of every 24 and remove those hours from the equation, the teachers at Central Falls still have less than 20% of a 365-day calendar year to educate their students. If the people responsible for those same students the other 80% of the calendar year are not also facing job termination, fines, or similar economic hardship, then teachers are definitely victims of discrimination in this case.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. Violating the teachers contract

What's the law in Rhode Island? If the contract is binding, that's a very valid lawsuit.