Spencer-East Brookfield School Committee chairman named in union lawsuit

By Ruth M. Lyon
rlyon@turley.com

EAST BROOKFIELD – School Committee Chairman Peter Rock has been named in a lawsuit filed with the Massachusetts division of labor relations in a charge of prohibited practice.
The Spencer-East Brookfield Teachers Association/MTA charged in papers served June 23 to school representative James Toomey as follows:
“The present Spencer-East Brookfield teachers’ contract runs from the 2008 school year through the 2010 school year and was duly negotiated by the union and school committee. On June 10, 2009, the chairman of the Spencer/East Brookfield School Committee, Peter Rock, wrote a letter addressed to all members of the teaching staff. The letter addressed the staff and urged the staff to take a pay freeze for fiscal year 2010. One June 11, 2009, Superintendent, Ralph E. Hicks, sent a memo to all Spencer-East Brookfield principals stating the following:
“Attached is a copy of a letter written by school committee chairman Peter Rock. Please post a copy in your teacher’s room. Thank you for your cooperation.”
Some principals made copies of the letter and put them directly in the teachers’ mailboxes. The action of directly communicating with our members is in violation of the collective bargaining law. This was a clear attempt by Mr. Rock to circumvent the duly elected bargaining team of the Spencer-East Brookfield Teachers Association.”
The suit seeks as remedy “an apology and a promise they will never engage in this type of activity again and post it in all schools.”
Rock and Hicks had announced the contents of the letter to the teachers on June 10, and Rock stated then that he had asked that it be posted in teachers’ rooms at the schools. Hicks stated that he had sent the letter, requesting that it be posted in teachers’ rooms, on June 11. On June 17, the teachers’ association President Mark S. James responded, denying the request on behalf of the teachers.
At the East Brookfield town meeting held June 22, East Brookfield selectmen and Rock said teachers had not been permitted to vote on the proposal outlined in Rock’s letter. Following a fiery exchange between Hicks, the selectmen, and FinCom members, the school budget for FY10 as presented at that meeting was rejected.
Rock, in a recent interview, said he didn’t think the charge “would hold water. I asked that it be placed in teachers’ rooms. I’m not the intimidating factor here. Perhaps the union is (intimidating). I’m just a poor country boy trying to help out the school kids and the town.”
No further information was available at press time.