Teachers’ union officials claim school officials allegedly violating employees’ Constitutional rights

Imagine sending an e-mail message to your elected School Board of Broward County representative, telling them your concerns, asking for their help – not once, not twice, but three times – and waiting for a response that never comes.

“I know that you are under a great deal of pressure at this time to do what’s right for students, teachers and the community. If possible, I would like you to view the possible lack of step for next year from my perspective.  I am on the top step but it took 26 years for me to get there.  I am almost ready to die and I finally start making some money.”

“Teachers historically are treated like they just don’t count. Our profession has diminished in respect with a great deal of blame on the district and state budgets that don’t value us enough to see that we can support our families.”

“This is the time for smart leadership.  If I were in charge, I would take suggestions from the workers about how to make cuts.  The worker knows about these things and can see the waste.  But I am sure this won’t happen and once again, the budget will be balanced on the backs of the poor.”

These are just three of hundreds of messages that school employees sent over the course of several months to their elected school board members, said the Broward Teacher’s Union, adding that they believe the school system has been blocking teachers’ emails to the board.

Broward Teachers Union lawyers issued a cease and desist letter last week to School Board Chair Maureen Dinnen and Superintendent Jim Notter demanding that they “stop violating the constitutional rights of the public to petition their elected representatives by intercepting and blocking public documents in the form of e-mail messages to elected school board members.”

“Considering everything that has been happening recently with Broward schools, and now this, it’s no wonder voters and taxpayers are losing trust in our district’s leaders,” BTU President Pat Santeramo said referring to the ongoing federal corruption probe into the district’s operations. “District officials appear willing to break whatever laws necessary to keep their house of cards standing, but it’s falling all around them nonetheless.”

BTU President Pat Santeramo said union leaders discovered by chance district officials intercepted and blocked the employee’s e-mails to school board members when School Board Member Stephanie Kraft “unwittingly” alerted them. Union leaders had sent an e-mail message to the labor organization’s 14,000 members on March 25, 2009 thanking them for their support during last year’s long contract negotiations with the district and, over the course of the 2008-2009 school year, for having sent hundreds of thousands of e-mails to school board members.

Ironically, Kraft did receive a copy of the union’s e-mail message to its members and fired back a response to BTU President Pat Santeramo just hours later at 10:27 a.m. on the same day, writing, “PS, board members did not receive any emails, let alone hundreds of thousands.”

The union launched an investigation and allegedly reviewed thousands of e-mail messages, which are all public documents, sent and received by school board members and district officials between March 23 to April 17, 2009. Union officials say they determined “district officials intercepted the employees’ e-mail messages to school board members on March 22 and 23, April 12 and August 26.”

“If district officials are willing to intercept employees’ messages, I have to wonder who else they might decide they don’t want school board members to hear from and to what lengths they will go to stop or even slow the lines of communication,” Santeramo said. “Everyone should be concerned when our tax dollars are being used in what appears to be such an illegal way and to do such under-handed things.”

The union’s lawyers, labor attorney Mark Richard in Miami and General Counsel David Strom of the American Federation of Teachers in Washington D.C., have said they found district officials were likely in violation of state and federal wiretapping statutes, according to the union. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 amended the Federal Wiretapping Act. It expanded the existing provisions regarding the interception of wireless communication to specifically cover the interception of email communications.

While district officials regularly claim they have the right to enforce the school system’s technology use policy, the union’s team of several lawyers claim that after examining the policy that it too appears to violate the employees’ constitutional rights.

Santeramo said the union has, with the assistance of the American Federation of Teachers Legal Department, been contemplating litigation to enforce the above outlined rights of employees and the union, itself. The cease and desist letter is intended to place district officials on warning of this impending litigation and to demand that the blocking of emails be ceased immediately.

Union leaders have asked district officials to promise in writing by October 26, 2009 that they will stop intercepting and blocking e-mail messages to school board members. If they don’t, they have pledged to take further legal action. In such a case, the cash strapped district would face a lengthy legal battle as well as potential civil penalties and fines.

“We are committed to fighting on behalf of employees, voters and taxpayers alike because everyone should have the right to send a message to their elected representatives. We all have a vested interest in being able to write to our elected representatives with the knowledge some official is not going to decide they dislike what we are writing and intercept our messages,” Santeramo said.

Related posts:

1. Teachers’ union planning loud protest tonight at school board
2. Broward school officials headed to NYC to recruit teachers despite local layoffs
3. Broward Teacher’s Union reject negotiations agreement
4. Union Requests Official Inquiry: School Board to Vote on $1.2 Million Contract Following Board Member Fundraiser
5. BTU ends on legal battle with school board for eight employees

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