District rules to replace newly hired director (5/09)

By Natalie Luu and Angel Au-Yeng

May. 22, 2009

After months of hearings, statements, grievances and student rallying, the district has ruled against keeping a faculty member at the school due to contractual disputes.
   Since late October, faculty, students and parents have been fighting to keep choir director Michael Lauricella at the school, despite having another teacher with seniority in the district poised for the same position.     Following several Board of Education hearings and public statements from the school community, the board ruled in a closed session meeting on May 4 to give the position to the teacher with seniority and consolidate Lauricella in accordance with the contract between the San Francisco Unified School District and the United Educators of San Francisco.
   Even after the board’s decision, students are still actively petitioning to the school board for Lauricella. “The educational system is in place to protect and ultimately serve the students,” senior Mariya Kaganskaya said. “The district is completely ignoring this, and we want to show them that we are unhappy.”
When there is a job opening, the Human Resources department follows a contracted order of priority for hiring qualified candidates, set out by the SFUSD – UESF contract section 15.1.5: 1. Consolidates district employees, 2. Employees returning from leave, 3. Voluntary Transfers, and 4. New hires. The contract protects teachers who already work for the district already, according to Union Building Co-representative and science teacher Kathy Melvin.
   According to visual and performing arts department head Teresa Bookwalter, she and the other three members of last spring’s school hiring committee — former assistant principal Mary Streshly, former choir director Othello Jefferson and orchestra teacher Michele Winter — were not informed of the seniority clause in the union contract when they conducted interviews the summer before the ’08-’09 school year. “Who knew and when did they know it?” Bookwalter said. “We were told to hold interviews for the position, and we chose Lauricella because he was the most qualified for the job.”
Human resources neglected to tell the administration that Lauricella’s opening had consolidated until late in the summer of ’08, which should not have been allowed, according to Melvin. “People were interviewed as if they were equal,” she said. “But those interviewees were in a different category.”
The senior teacher interested in the position — who was on leave for the ’07-’08 school year — filed a grievance mid-October of 2008. The grievance cited the union contract, which states that if both candidates have the credentials required for a district staff position, the faculty member with greater seniority will get the job over a “new hire” — a teacher who is being hired from outside of SFUSD.
   Ever since the grievance was filed and the choir teacher position was officially questioned, supporters for Lauricella rallied by creating petitions, attending Board meetings and, overall, keeping morale high. “Different sets of faculty, parents and students came to each meeting every time,” Bookwalter said. “Lauricella didn’t have an attorney or any representation, and that’s why I think everyone, especially the students, did so brilliantly during this whole hurricane of events.”
   In March, the union and district came to an agreement to continue Lauricella as the school’s choir teacher for the spring semester. This temporary solution was “decided to keep Lauricella to keep the program constant,” according to Melvin. However, the solution was allotted to spring semester only and negotiations for the fall resulted in the recent board decision.
Though the board granted Lauricella consolidation, his job security remains unstable. The board decision automatically gives Lauricella access to any choir director openings at another district school, but still places him in line behind other consolidated teachers with appropriate credentials and more seniority. “Unfortunately, right now, there are no full-time positions in the musical department (in any district schools),” Lauricella explained. “I won’t know whether there’s a position opening until a week before school starts.”
   Students who have worked with Lauricella this year believe he has proved himself to be more than qualified as the choir director to the students. “Not only is he musically talented, but he communicates with us so well,” senior Desiree Choy said, who worked intensively under Lauricella’s direction in the spring musical Damn Yankees. “He makes everyone feel so confident and comfortable, and he helps us step out of our comfort zones. I can’t think of anyone else more well-suited for the job.”
   With students such as Choy already adjusted to Lauricella’s instruction methods after Jefferson’s 10-year tenure, a transition to another new teacher will be difficult, according to Bookwalter. “The students will have to go through two teachers in two years,” she said. “The students have adapted well (to Lauricella) but it will be hard for them to repeat the process all over again.”
   Many people at the school recognize Lauricella’s efforts in the choir classes this spring. “Lauricella is one of the best choir directors I’ve seen in 22 years,” principal Andrew Ishibashi said.
   Despite a year-long battle that ultimately ended in disappointment for Lauricella and many students, he shows no regrets for his short career at Lowell. “I feel honored to have made such a strong bond with all the students in such a short amount of time,” he said.

Share this article