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Dismissed president wins case, page 24. Region elections,
By Brenda Ortega, MEA Voice Editor
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Given all of the political
upheaval of the past several years, Rochester Education Association President Doug Hill knows it has become cliché to say an upcoming election is the most important one in our lifetimes.
But when it comes to local school board races that sentiment is true, Hill said: “Public schools are at a crossroads and if some of the more extreme elements who are seeking these seats are elected, there could be dire consequences.”
For that reason, the Rochester EA — which traditionally hasn’t gotten involved in school board races — this year joined with the Rochester Support Personnel Association (RSPA) and the Rochester ParaEducators Association (RPEA) to recommend candidates for three open seats on the school board, he said.
Educators in districts throughout Michigan are doing the work of vetting prospective school board members in a record‑setting number of races this year. Find the list at mea.org/ mea‑recommended‑local‑school‑ board‑candidates.
In Rochester, a panel of rank‑and‑file members from the three associations interviewed those candidates who responded to an invitation, which resulted in recommendations for Jessica Gupta, Eddie Hillery and Joe Pittel — two of whom are incumbents.
While Hill did not participate in the screening and recommendation process, he said the committee members were not looking for candidates to agree on every position with them. “At the end of the day it’s about having people who can work with others and get stuff done.”
Like other communities across the state and nation, the Rochester district has experienced volatile school board meetings as organized opposition groups have targeted COVID safety protocols plus books and curricular materials that discuss issues of race and gender.
Two school board candidates emerged from that turmoil. One is suing the district with backing from the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a conservative outlet that pushes school privatization and anti‑union measures. Another runs a right‑wing Facebook page and is leading efforts to ban certain books from the district.
The three unions representing 1,400 employees in the school district will do all they can to help elect the candidates they believe will be best for the district, Hill said. That includes fundraising, displaying yard signs, and conducting voter outreach.
“We have a lot of MEA members who live in Rochester and work in other districts, so we’re going to do our best to make sure we get out the information to them,” he said.
A similar scenario is playing out in nearby Chippewa Valley, said English teacher Cara Konicek, the EA president. The difference is that four seats are up for election on the seven‑member board, and three incumbents chose not to run.
Over the past 18 months, the district’s school board meetings have become contentious with shouting and name‑calling, and “All of that has now morphed into a desire to take over the board,” Konicek said.
As in Rochester, an employee coalition of four local unions formed to jointly recommend candidates in the election, including the teachers’ group, joined by the clerical unit,
Doug Hill
Cara Konicek, Chippewa Valley EA president
paraeducators group, and the association representing custodial, maintenance, food service and transportation workers.
The committee’s screenings resulted in recommendations for Ken Pearl, Bruce Wade, Christopher Gura and Shannon King.
Also a graduate of the district, Konicek said what brings hope is her belief that it’s a vocal minority of people making meetings so divisive while most folks in the community support educators and their public schools.
The president of the Manchester Education Association, Leslie Rollins, also holds on to hope despite a difficult couple of years in her district that led the local union to recommend school board candidates for the first time in her 15 years as leader.
“When you don’t have hope, you might as well hang it all up,” said Rollins, a business and technology teacher.
In addition to disruptive school board meetings, Manchester Community Schools became the subject of a viral video that made international news when a group of parents led some students in a rebellion against district administrators who were trying to enforce a countywide mask mandate ordered by the Washtenaw County Health Department in September 2021.
One of the parents on the video seen urging about two dozen maskless students to push past the district’s superintendent and other administrators is now a school board candidate.
The screening committee interviewed candidates with questions about the district’s strengths in addition to the candidate’s priorities for running, Rollins said. The panel prioritized health and safety, but also looked for candidates who would treat educators as professionals.
The Manchester union is recommending voters choose Rebecca Harvey, Sandra Wiitala and Mike Tindall.
Members will step up to raise money and get the word out about their recommended candidates because these important local races go beyond partisan politics, she added. “It doesn’t matter what somebody’s politics are; it shouldn’t even come into play here.
“Let’s take care of what needs to be taken care of. We are a public school. We take all kids, no questions asked. Hopeful is a word I’m using to describe this year, because I’m hopeful we can move beyond this.” v
Leslie Rollins
Find MEA recommended candidates for your school board and other local races at MEAVotes.org.
By Brenda Ortega, MEA Voice Editor
When Sue Ziel returned to her classroom this school year, it was the Romeo Education Association president’s first time setting foot on school district property in 15 months.
She didn’t know how it would feel to come back after spending that time fighting tenure charges her district had brought against her — and winning the case. The Michigan Tenure Commission found her attempted dismissal by Romeo Community Schools was arbitrary and capricious.
Had this dark chapter — which she described as one of the three worst things she’d ever faced in life — destroyed her passion for teaching middle school social studies after 25 years? Could she recover from the mental, emotional and physical health effects and confidently step back into the role she loved?
“Surprisingly I feel like I never left,” she said in an email on Aug. 15, the first day she came back to prepare her classroom. “The moment I stepped in my room, I knew this is where I belong. This is what I was meant to do. This is my calling. Any doubt I had vanished.”
She also had an epiphany: “I knew I was fighting for my union rights and teacher union rights. But it wasn’t until today, spending time in my room and feeling excited about this year, did I realize how much I was fighting for me just as a person and educator. I cannot describe exactly but it is soul filling.”
In an earlier interview, Ziel said she doesn’t hold grudges but telling her story brings back the emotion. “It’s kind of like being rescued and safe with your blanket and hot chocolate. I’m in a good spot now, but reliving it reminds me of how careless people can be with other people’s lives.”
Ziel didn’t know much about unions before starting at Romeo in 1997, she said. She became a building rep early on and has served as president for seven years.
“I grew to love the union because you weren’t alone. I thought, Yes. This is what we do—we fight for the best things for our kids, for our teachers. What’s good for the teachers is good for kids and good for the community.”
Ziel continued in her union leadership role while legal proceedings played out in her tenure case, which stemmed from comments she made privately to members.
In the weeks leading up to a May 10, 2021 school board meeting, Ziel had received warnings from colleagues that a right‑wing group — Moms for Liberty — would be coming to Romeo to protest against COVID safety protocols in schools.
At that time, one year into the global pandemic, COVID vaccines had only been available on a limited basis for a short time, and school districts were navigating a difficult road of trying to offer in‑person learning while ensuring staff and student safety.
Meanwhile, organized and aggressive groups opposing safety mitigation for COVID had begun disrupting school board meetings in various places across the state. In many cases, a number of protesters would show up who did not live in the district or have children in the schools.
“We were just starting to hear about the kinds of threats that were being made against board members in other places,” Ziel said. “There was a real concern about violence happening.”
Ziel did not attend the meeting but heard accounts from people who did. Dozens in the crowd would not wear masks as required by the district. They booed and heckled the school board president who asked some of them to move to an overflow room — and refused to go.
“I’ve been to board meetings in the past where parents or employees are upset and there’s disagreement, but there was always a certain amount of decorum and respect for the process,” Ziel said. “This was definitely a change.”
Two days later, feeling protective, Ziel wanted to communicate the events to members in an off‑the‑cuff manner without striking fear. She posted in a private Facebook group open only to members in good standing from her local:
Romeo Education Association President Sue Ziel has taught for 25 years in the district, and the stress of getting fired caused health effects. Fighting back with help from MEA was empowering, she says. “It makes you feel stronger inside.”
“This is how I picture the next board meeting between the Board & the idiots that turned the meeting into a (poo emoji) show. a group called ‘Moms of liberty’ showed up to stir up trouble. Apparently they were rude and mistook the meeting for a Jerry Springer show. Anti mask & anti vaccine & anti testing for sports. The trifecta of stink’n think’n. They are a virus themselves.”
Soon a screenshot of the post was shared beyond the group, including to a Facebook page — the Romeo Rambler — that has since been taken down by the social media platform. The Rambler posted the screenshot and solicited parent complaints about Ziel to the district.
Five days later the superintendent placed her on paid administrative leave pending an investigation. Initially Ziel was not too concerned, because she has always had effective or highly effective evaluations and a spotless personnel file.
“I know you can’t rely on a private Facebook group being private. But I’m also conscious in that post we don’t bash the district, we don’t bash principals or parents. It was Moms for Liberty; at the time I didn’t know these were actual parents in my district.
“And as a leader, I have a right to share my concerns with membership.”
For several weeks Ziel received hateful and threatening messages that caused her to fear for her safety and install a doorbell video camera.
Late in June — with the support of MEA UniServ Director Beth Pyden — she underwent a five‑hour interview by district lawyers looking into “nonsense” complaints, she said. None were validated. Yet officials threatened to fire her over the Facebook post alone if Ziel did not step down voluntarily.
“No teacher in their right mind wants to go through tenure charges, but a true leader doesn’t take a hike because it gets tough,” Ziel said. “If they got rid of me, whoever stepped up next would be quieted, teachers would be quieted. What they did to me they did to my teachers as well.”
For that reason, when MEA Legal Services took on the case, “I literally started crying — just to know the backup came in and justice was on its way.”
In addition to challenging the tenure charges, lawyers for MEA filed Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charges and served the district’s school board and administration with a federal lawsuit charging a violation of Ziel’s civil rights under the U.S. Constitution.
The district alleged Ziel communicated with parents in a disrespectful manner, was discourteous to customers and the public, and violated the District’s social media policy. However, an administrative law judge ruled in Ziel’s favor on all counts, finding that allowing termination of a union president for speech the public does not like would stifle the ability of teachers to freely discuss issues of interest to the union.
The district appealed to the Tenure Commission, which agreed the firing was “arbitrary and capricious.”
Ziel was visiting a relative in Tennessee when she got the call. “It was like a weird, surreal movie moment. Finding out that we won — and my teachers won — was such a relief. I felt like I could breathe again.”
She never could have done it without the support of Pyden and the MEA legal team, and the experience reaffirmed her belief in the power and importance of belonging to a union, she said.
“You always hope to God you won’t find yourself in need of this kind of help from MEA, but if you do — you have a place to go where you can be heard and have people who will fight alongside you. I knew I was in good hands.”
A decision on the ULP is pending, and the federal lawsuit should move forward now that the tenure proceedings are complete, said MEA General Counsel Lisa Harrison.
“The attempt by the Romeo Community Schools to fire its local union president for comments made in a private forum for fellow MEA members is wrong, both under the law governing Sue Ziel’s rights and the chilling effect it attempts to put on educators raising their voices against threats, bullying and intimidation at the local level,” Harrison said. “MEA is fully committed to Ziel’s legal case and to fighting for the rights and the voice of every MEA member.” v
