Recently, several sources sent me the following email, which was sent to everyone in LBUSD by one of “The Nine”; one of nine board members central to the power struggle at TALB between one side led by Executive Director Scott McVarish, President Michael Day and nine board members. This letter from Director Dale McVey details communication and other issues that have led to a continuing breakdown of trust at TALB. It appears that “rock bottom” has not yet been reached in this dispute.
Interesting side note, the emails I have seen from Day all have in closing, “In Unity”…
Sent 9/28/2007 to all LBUSD email addresses:
BEGIN LETTER
September 28, 2007
Dear Members:
We understand that e-mails can be a distraction to your busy day as a teacher. But an e-mail can also be an effective means of communicating the truth and to bring to your attention areas of serious concern that are currently affecting our union in a prejudicial way. We believe that it is important that you are aware of who is responsible for these distortions and jeopardizing the effectiveness of our union. That is the reason why this e-mail is being sent to you.
1. Distortion Number Eight [This is a continuation of the distortions set forth in an earlier letter to the Reps]: On September 26, 2007, Mike Day posted notices on the front and back doors of the TALB building, amongst other places, stating the “I am hereby cancelling today’s 4 p.m. Board of Directors meeting due to the fact that the majority of Board members just informed me by email that they cannot be in attendance at the appointed 4 p.m. start time.” A copy of this letter was sent by Day to the Reps.
Fact: On September 21, Mike Day notified the TALB Board of Directors that he was calling a TALB Board meeting for September 26, at 4:00 p.m. at the TALB office. One of the important issues to be discussed was bargaining. Director Marc Hyatt was not notified of the board meeting until it was mentioned at the Rep Council meeting on September 25.
Since Day did not arrange for release time for the directors, director Hyatt notified Day by e-mail at about 8:00 p.m. on September 25, the day before the meeting and not just before the meeting as represented by Day, that director Hyatt and the majority of the Board members could not be at the meeting until 4:30 p.m. because several of the directors had late school or other site responsibilities. As a result, Hyatt requested that the meeting begin at 4:30 p.m. Day did not respond and, at no time, did he ever tell the directors that 4:30 p.m. was not going to work.. Since Day was unwilling or unable to obtain release time for the directors, he knew that the directors, because of their school commitments, could not have arrived by the 4:00 p.m. start time and should have (and insinuated by his silence that he did) delayed the board meeting for 30 minutes.
Director Dale McVey arrived at the TALB office for the board meeting on September 26 at 3:55 p.m. and found Day’s note on the back door of the office cancelling the meeting. The doors were locked and no one was in the office. Normally, the TALB office closes at 5:00 p.m. No prior notice about the cancellation was received by any of the nine directors until an e-mail that was sent to those directors and all representatives at 3:55 p.m. As a matter of fact, director Elissa Viglietta had been working in the TALB office on the TALB picnic until about 2:30 p.m., when she left to go home and change her clothes for the upcoming board meeting. She spoke to Day and McVarish before leaving the office and neither one of them told her that the meeting was cancelled. In anticipation of the meeting, director Hyatt and director Caridad Rivera skipped Masters Program classes that were scheduled for that evening.
Without the courtesy of consulting the nine of the directors, Day arbitrarily scheduled a “Special Meeting” of the Board for Friday, September 28 at 4:00 p.m., again without providing release time for the directors, Certainly, Day understands that the directors have the same and perhaps added responsibilities on Friday that they did on Wednesday and would not be able to attend a meeting at 4:00 p.m. Some of the directors have added site responsibilities on Friday, such as bus duty, football game chaperone, etc. It is obvious that this scheduling of Board meetings, without release time and while some directors are still finishing site duties, is an attempt by McVarish and Day to call BOD meetings for a time when they know directors cannot attend and then sending e-mails to reps accusing the directors of being unwilling to cooperate in making the union functional.
2. Distortion Number Nine: In his September 26 letter, Day also represents that “Additionally, the same group refused to meet with the CTA-recommended facilitator on Monday, September 24th and continue to refuse her requests to meet (Marc Hyatt, Davina Keiser, Patria Davila, Dale McVey, Virginia Torres, Caridad River and Nina Jackson).”
Fact: In an e-mail to director Hyatt, a copy to Robin Rose of CTA, dated September 23, 2007, Gail Nugent, the CTA recommended facilitator stated that “I did not receive the Board contact information in time to conduct interviews prior to the large group meting on Monday and I did not believe that the meeting on Monday would be productive without conducting the preparation outlined above.” The nine directors that Day and McVarish have locked out of TALB have a meeting scheduled with Ms. Nugent on Friday, October 7, 2007.
The distortions by McVarish and Day have not been limited to the TALB membership. Check lbpost.com, September 28, 2007, for an example of how that website was led to believe that a written opinion by the law firm that earlier represented Michael Ellis, was an opinion letter from the CTA, when it was not.
Areas of Concern
1. Lack of checks and balances: Fundamental to any organization is oversight, especially when it comes to spending your money. McVarish and Day were asked by the TALB Board to produce TALB financial records, including copies of TALB checks for the last two years, copies of McVarish’s and Schipske’s credit card statements, copies of statements from TALB savings accounts. They refused. As a result, the TALB Board was compelled to file suit against TALB and Day to compel the production of the requested documents. Prior to an ex parte hearing on the issue, McVarish agreed that the requested financial documents could be copied by the Board at the TALB office. Last Wednesday, after the TALB Board lawyer left the TALB offices, McVarish refused to allow the copier person to finish copying financial documents and made him leave the TALB office. Unfortunately, litigation has been the only method by which Day and McVarish will produce documents that the law requires be open for inspection and copying by directors and members. Even with litigation, McVarish has attempted to thwart this production by hiring lawyer Frederic Woocher (the lawyer that he hired for the Deaton/Schipske campaign and paid for with TALB general funds marked “bargaining”) to oppose the production in court and obstinately kicking out the copy person from the TALB office. McVarish’s actions are being paid for with your dues.
Your treasurer Davina Keiser is a signatory on only one of TALB’s checking accounts, Citibank and on only one of TALB’s savings accounts, also Citibank. McVarish and Day have unfettered access to the remaining TALB bank accounts and have refused to allow Davina as a signatory to those accounts. They have also made it very difficult for her to access the TALB QuickBooks accounting system. This is contrary to Article VIII H of the Bylaws, which states that the Treasurer shall (1) receive all funds belonging to the association and be responsible for their safekeeping and accounting and (2) to pay out such funds upon orders of the President. It is also contrary to Standing Rule 8.5 c., which states that the Treasurer shall have the chapter’s financial records in a manner to meet legal requirements and Standing Rule 8.5 d., which states that “the Treasurer, the President and/or the Executive Director of TALB are authorized to sign checks on behalf of the Association up to a maximum of $2,000. Checks in excess of this amount must bear the signature of two of these persons.” If McVarish and Day are the only ones signing checks on and the only ones who have access to all of TALB’s accounts, there are no safeguards for your union funds and there is serious, well-founded concern that TALB’s money is being improperly diverted.
3. Restrictions regarding Board Meetings: McVarish and Day have denied TALB directors opportunities to meet as a board and discuss bargaining, among other issues, and have curtailed their deliberations when the board has met. They cancelled the Board of Directors annual August retreat, failed to call a Board meeting for the second Tuesday of September as required by Standing Rule 9.1, failed to call a Board meeting before the September Rep Council meeting as required by the By Laws and canceled the September 26 Board meeting. Day’s reasons for cancelling the Board meetings have been inconsistent.
In his July 2007 e-mail, Day said that he was canceling the August Board retreat and BOD meeting because the forensic audit had been released to the public. Later, in an August letter to the Reps, he said that he was canceling the August retreat to save money.
As discussed above, McVarish and Day scheduled Board meetings at times when directors, because of their site responsibilities, were unable to attend. McVarish and Day failed to arrange for release time so that the directors could attend.
At the Board meeting of August 14, Day refused to acknowledge nine directors on the board. He refused to consider their properly made motions, their votes and even their presence. As a result, the directors had no choice but to terminate the meeting. Day sent a publication to the reps stating that the nine directors had “walked out of the meeting” but failed to disclose the fact that his actions had caused a termination of a fictional meeting arranged for politicking by Day and McVarish.
4. Hiring of Executive Personnel without Board consultation or approval: McVarish has hired yet another assistant executive director without consulting the Board or receiving Board approval. Like Schipske and McVarish, the new assistant executive director is not a teacher and has absolutely no K-12 classroom experience. What are her specific duties? Do we need/can we afford another non-teacher administrator? Who is overseeing her? None of these questions have been answered. Board consultation and approval of executive positions are standard practices to provide checks and balances for the spending of your money.
I apologize for the length of this letter. However, I believe that it contains facts and concerns that are important to the future of our union. We cannot allow our union to be controlled by McVarish and Day and their small cadre of followers. Important issues are being stymied because of their desire for control. For example, Day’s arbitrary decision to cancel the September 26 board meeting and to lock the board out of the TALB office on that day frustrated discussions on the important issue of bargaining, which was on that meeting’s agenda. How are we going to get bargaining successfully conducted while McVarish and Day play antics with our meetings?
We must take control of TALB. Please become involved by speaking to your Reps, your directors and each other and ask the question is TALB being managed for the benefit of all members or for the benefit of McVarish, Day and their small cadre of followers. Your participation is vital to the future of TALB.
END LETTER
Once again, stay tuned….
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