Unions, school board negotiate meeting

The La Conner School District’s unions’ leadership has been invited to meet with the District’s Board of Directors June 25 to start discussion of their no confidence votes in Superintendent Whitney Meissner’s leadership and performance. The format and conditions of the meetings are not what the unions envisioned, however.

Monday afternoon emails from Meissner to officers of the La Conner Education Association, LEA, and the Public Support Employees, PSE, read, in part:

“Chair Janie Beasley asked me to reach out to the two of you. The board would like to invite the two of you to attend a closed executive session with the board and me for the purpose of hearing from you regarding the vote of no confidence letter.”

Two members of each union are asked to meet with the Board and Meissner for 30 minutes in executive session in sequential meetings.

The meetings’ format and schedule are not what the teachers and support staff wanted but are probably not a surprise. “Acknowledged” was the complete initial response the LEA received from the District’s Board of Directors after receiving a joint letter of no confidence backed by overwhelming membership votes of 80 and 79 percent, respectively, June 7.

The letter to the Directors expressed the staff’s loss of confidence in the integrity of their superintendent and her ability to lead the District. The staff recognized the depth and seriousness of their statement. The concerns and issues voiced by the memberships will be difficult for Meissner to resolve, union leadership had earlier told the Weekly News.

The unions’ leadership hoped for a joint membership meeting with the School Directors alone, so a candid discussion of the many staff experiences with Meissner could be aired. She is the district’s executive, supervising all staff.

The teachers’ union Monday response to Meissner’s email stated, in part: “we would like to have our request to meet only with the Board honored. At this time, we believe it would not be appropriate to have Dr. Meissner present.”

The unions’ email repeats their request for a shared meeting, with the unions “united and want[ing] to meet with the School Board together on this important and urgent manner. The LEA and PSE have and will continue to speak with one voice.”

They find 30-minute meetings “insufficient to consider issues of this weight and importance” and ask “for a thorough and complete discussion with the Board without such limiting time constraints.”

The email is signed by the LEA co-Presidents, Alyse Sehlin and Lisa Thomas and Randy Wills, PSE President, and Vice President Laraine Drye.

Board of Directors’ Chair Janie Beasley told the Weekly News Tuesday afternoon that the meeting format was determined based on the directors’ discussion with the District’s attorney and representatives from the Educational Service District.

Asked why they were not agreeing to the unions’ request for a longer, joint union membership meeting without the superintendent, Beasley said “We would prefer to meet with the union reps. I need to speak with the other board members”

Asked about the directors initiating an investigation, which community members are suggesting, Beasley replied, “We need to talk to the staff, the teachers union. We need to find out what their concern are.”

Beasley did not reference the unions’ June 7 no confidence vote letter or the depths of the staff’s concerns.