Francesco Portelos, Chapter Leader, Wins His Grievance

Big Arbitration Win for School Community

by Francesco Portelos on May 31, 2013 in Uncategorized

 LINK

As most of you may know, I have been strongly advocating for the students and staff at my community school, Berta Dreyfus IS 49, for quite some time now. A handful of NYC Department of Education employees have been trying everything to prevent me from doing so. Imagine that…people with the responsibility to ensure the safety and education of young children have been throwing barriers in the way of a parent/educator who wants to help.

It took awhile, but see the below arbitration decision that just came in today. It basically states that the DOE has violated the UFT contract, and even their own regulations, when they attempted to prevent me from acting in my capacity as the elected chapter leader. This is a big win for the 91 members at the school as well as the children they serve. Thanks to John Torres who represented me at the grievance back in November as well as David Campbell and Michelle Daniels who I left at the arbitration to run and depose former NYC DOE HR Director Andrew Gordon.

Let’s pay close attention to how the department will react to this. If they follow their past track record, they will try to continue to be divisive. Children last?

I already sent the below email to Principal Linda Hill, so we can start moving in the right direction:

From: Francesco Portelos 
Date: Fri, May 31, 2013 at 11:38 AM
Subject: Arbitration Decision
To: Linda Hill
Cc: eclaudi@schools.nyc.gov, mvazquez16@schools.nyc.gov, Sean Rotkowitz , jmckeon3@schools.nyc.gov, Zaharakis Despina , Thomas Fox , kcrossan@schools.nyc.gov, Brodsky David , mmendel@uft.org, mmulgrew@uft.org, RSinger4 , Greenfield Robin , ESchlenoff@schools.nyc.gov

Principal Hill,

     The attached decision, made by Arbitrator Tener, indicates that he found the Department of Education violated several articles of the contract, as well as regulations when you refused to meet with me. In order to follow along with the remedy proposed, could you tell me the first available date you and I could meet to discuss a plethora of issues pertaining to the school? Tuesday works for me. 

     As a reminder, I was elected chapter leader of your school after you and Superintendent Claudio had me removed. I continued to be a strong advocate for the school despite all obstacles thrown in my way by you and many members copied on this email. Those obstacles were not just affecting me, but the staff and students of the school. It shocks the senses that so many people, in a position of power and responsibility for the welfare of children, would try so hard to get in the way of safety and education of children. Many, but not all, attempts to prevent my involvement have been futile. As I understand it, a petition to recall me as chapter leader was circulating around recently and at least one administrator from the CSA was pushing it with some staff members. It did not obtain enough signatures. A year after running the chapter from exile, the staff still prefers me to run your school over anyone else.  I have also heard that you have been calling in my chapter members and questioning them on what they said during a UFT meeting. I suggest you cease and desist with that type of behavior as well or we will move towards more grievances. 

Today, I met with staff members outside on the sidewalk for a UFT meeting. If you notice, most of your staff is wearing blue today. They are not wearing blue because they are for or against anyone. They are wearing blue to show solidarity despite the divide and conquer techniques used against them. 

Where do we go from here? I hope the department does not continue to follow the same crooked path down the wrong direction. Obviously I am not going anywhere. I eagerly await your response.

Please do not circulate any documents pertaining to menu items until we meet. I also expect my school email address to be enabled and to be copied on all staff related emails. 

Thank you and enjoy your weekend.

Sincerely,
-Francesco Portelos
Parent
Educator
IS 49 UFT Chapter Leader