Opening Bell

Local Association Branding

In an effort to be more recognizable as an important voice in the education process, the Dirigo Education Association held a contest to design a logo for the local. The winner, Catori Watson, received a $25 gift card for her efforts, and now her hand-drawn logo represents the local as it lives up to its motto, "working together."

Lawsuit Filed on Behalf of Member Who Won Gorham Town Council Seat

The Maine Education Association, with support from the National Education Association, filed a lawsuit in Maine Superior Court seeking immediate injunctive relief against the town of Gorham for refusing to allow Janet Kuech, an Ed Tech in the Gorham School Department, from serving on the Gorham Town Council. Kuech is a member of the Maine Education Association, resident of Gorham and works at Narraganset Elementary School.

On Election Day, Kuech won a seat on the Gorham Town Council. Since that time, members of the Gorham Town Council have twice refused to seat her, citing the Town Charter. The Town Charter states that no council members shall hold an office or profit under the Town Charter or Ordinances. However, Gorham's town attorney provided legal advice to the Council stating Kuech was not precluded by the Town Charter from being seated on the Council. Still, the Council refused to honor the will of the voters and its own attorney's advice. Kuech won her seat in a six-way race for three seats, ousting incumbent Paul Smith. Kuech was the only non-incumbent to win.

The lawsuit contends the refusal to seat Janet Kuech as a town councilor is an infringement of the rights and privileges granted in the Maine Constitution to Kuech and those who voted for her on November 5, 2019.

"Instead of respecting the town voters and the rule of the law, these town councilors have doubled down in their lawlessness by moving forward and posting a notice for a new election scheduled in March of 2020 for the seat that Janet Kuech won and for which they refuse to seat her," said her attorney Jonathan Goodman, who has been hired by MEA to represent Kuech. Frustrated with a lack of a contract and lack of support from the School Board, members of the Scarborough Education Association rallied during School Board meetings this winter. "We are professionals and we want to be respected and valued for the work we do for our students and our school community. The unwillingness of the School Board to settle the contract has led to extremely low morale among the faculty. Many teachers in this district feel the Board's actions show a complete lack of support for the work we do," said Krystal Ash-Cuthbert, teacher and president of the Scarborough Education Association.

Among the issues raised by the Scarborough EA during the negotiating process:

Provide adequate time- Teachers need time to improve their practice, to create better lessons for their students, and meet the ever increasing demands of the profession. Employee Rights- SEA has asked for there to be an explicit Complaints and Investigations process that is clear, fair, and equitable. Comparable Pay- Salaries that are better aligned with districts like Scarborough. SEA believes in order to adequately attract and retain teachers in Scarborough, the Board needs to evaluate salaries based on similar communities with a similar tax base, as it has done in the past.

At the time of press, the local is still waiting on a report from a Fact Finding panel-a neutral chairperson and one employee representative and one employer representative. Together, they look at the issues, take evidence and provide a report for both parties with recommended resolutions of each issue.

Online School Votes to Unionize

Teachers at Connections Academy voted to join the Maine Education Association, but after the vote, the school took the teachers to court, arguing the election wasn't valid.

MEA fought for the teachers during a hearing in Boston, arguing the November election was valid, which would give the teachers the right to form a union affiliated with the MEA.

Since the election, Connections Academy has denied the teachers' ability to collectively organize as a new unit of the MEA, contesting some of the ballots. In total, four of the ballots are being contested, two by Connections Academy, one by the NLRB and one by the MEA.

To move the union formation process along, MEA agreed to allow for a second election to occur, after the Connections Academy to allow some educators it originally contested to vote.

As an agreement in court, a revote was held and MEA lost the fight to unionize, by one vote. MEA is still questioning the intimidation tactics of Connections Academy and will continue to work with the teachers at the school.