DOVER TEACHERS TO PICKET TUESDAY’S SCHOOL BOARD MEETING OVER TIERNEY
DOVER PLAINS, N.Y. June 22, 2015 – In a show of unity, teachers and parents from the Dover School District – joined by educators and community members from throughout the Mid-Hudson region – will hold informational picketing Tuesday to call on the school board to demand that Superintendent Michael Tierney immediately cease harassing and bullying educators.
The informational picketing will be held at 6:15 p.m. on Tuesday, June 23, at Dover High School, 2368 Route 22, Dover Plains, N.Y.
Michael O’Roark, president of the Dover-Wingdale Teachers Association, said Tierney – on the day after the school budget vote – set in motion a series of “Black Wednesday” transfers and layoffs that will hurt students and damage educational programs.
O’Roark said his local union is calling on the school board to insist that Tierney respect teachers and staff, and to immediately stop harassing and bullying educators, all of whom are union leaders and/or members of the local union’s negotiating team.
“This is no coincidence. Instead of accepting compromise as the logical, end result of lengthy negotiations, the superintendent is harassing and trying to intimidate teachers with a ‘my way or the highway’ approach,” O’Roark said. “Unfortunately, it appears that students will be paying the price. The superintendent – without any sound educational reasoning – wants to transfer veteran elementary teachers to teach new grades and is laying off an elementary school librarian, even though there is no legitimate fiscal reason to do so.”
“The only common denominator,” O’Roark said, “is that every teacher targeted is a union official or a member of the local union’s negotiating team. Unions safeguard the ability of teachers to speak up on behalf of their students and on matters of public concern. Our voices will not be silenced.”
O’Roark said parents, community members and educators from local unions affiliated with New York State United Teachers will be joining the picketing. “We won’t be bullied. We won’t be intimidated. We won’t be unfairly targeted for our union activities,” he said. “We much prefer collaboration and constructive dialogue with the district administration, and we’re calling on the board to restore that climate to our schools.”
