Teachers Union Thinks the School Board’s Allegations Lack Purpose

The school board’s against the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Education Association and individual teachers don’t make much sense to association spokesman Joe Zenir.

“It doesn’t seem like it has a lot of purpose,” Zenir said.

Zenir said the move seemed like a form of intimidation, adding that the union just wants to be back at the negotiating table.

Brecksville-Broadview Heights’ school board sees it differently. Board of Education President David Tryon said that they believe the union and those teachers have been providing false information to the public and making disparaging statements. The board wouldn’t have a problem with teachers talking about the issues if the information was accurate, he said.

The school board filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge with the State Employment Relations Board against the association on June 11 that alleged the association’s website contained “false and disparaging statements” about the board and included screenshots of the now-private site.

And on July 5, the board filed Unfair Labor Practice charges on three individual teachers:

• Jane Jagielo
• Cathy McKelvey
• Michael Battista

The board alleges that letters sent by Jagielo and McKelvey to parents and an email sent by Battista to parents included “false and disparaging statements” about the board.

Copies of the letters and email were included in the charges. All included mentions of cuts to planning time and encouraged parents to visit the union’s website for more information.

Emails sent to the teachers were not returned with comments by the time this article was published.

The charges were provided by the State Employment Relations Board and can be found in the PDFs above.