04/22/2021
"The following letter was presented to the board of education from the Staunton Federation of Teachers during open session at last night's board meeting."
To the Board of Education of Staunton Community School District #6,
We, the members of Local 4818, Staunton Federation of Teachers, have composed this letter to express our dissatisfaction with our superintendent, Mrs. Cynthia Tolbert.
This letter is an expression of our vote of āNo Confidenceā in Mrs. Tolbertās ability to lead our school system.
It is not a decision we arrived at hastily and we fully understand the severity of this action.
Staunton Schools have a long history of excellence in education. Our school board, administration, teachers, staff, and community have always worked together for the benefit of all students. The relationship between the superintendent and the teachersā union in the past has always been one of cooperation and respect.
However, throughout the past few months there has been growing concern with Mrs. Tolbertās competency in her leadership role, specifically regarding trust, collaboration, decision making, knowledge of the law, communication, and respect--or lack thereof--for faculty, staff, and administrators.
Those characteristics have created a hostile work environment as of April 21, 2021.
Management:
-Refused to compromise or negotiate in good faith concerning weekly lesson plans and the calendar changes
-Admonished the union president by email for contacting a board member. Interfering with union business is a grievable offense.
-Hired teachers to āhelpā with Schoology, but failed to post those paid positions
-Requires weekly fluency tests (Mrs. Tolbert created) with no modifications for students with IEPs.
-Attempted to have the filing cabinet containing faculty personnel files moved from the HR office to her office
-Included a studentās academic information and derogatory family descriptions in a publication, opening the district to possible litigation
-Introduced new policy on a board agenda with intent to approve that policy without negotiating said changes
-Union president was never informed of intended creation of dock day policy and must FOIA said policy
-Attempted to place an illegal evaluation in a personnel file
-Demands elected public officials (board members) alert her when teachers contact them
-Micromanages each aspect of the school system; including the judgement of her administrators and supervisors
-Emailed urging union to begin negotiations, with a veiled threat of not meeting until fall otherwise.
-No respect for administrators opinions
-Unqualified to evaluate administrators
-First grievance filed by a union member in over twenty years
Leadership:
-Mandated new weekly lesson plans for curriculum mapping purpose, even though curriculum mapping was completed last year, creating an unnecessary burden to those teachers instructing both in person and remote students
-Derogatory claims against union officials during a presentation on calendar changes
-Refusal to answer faculty questions at meetings
-Spending district money (redecorating her office - $10,000, signs for classrooms, murals for hallways) all while expressing concern about expected future funding
-Unprofessional comments about students
-Ignored a Board order to apologize to faculty
-Inappropriate emails sent to faculty
-Failure to follow Health Departmentās protocol when quarantining staff
If board members need or want further details or clarification about the unionās concerns, I am available to discuss them at a later date when our IFT representative can be present.
It is with these issues in mind that we respectfully ask the board to investigate Mrs. Tolbertās actions and ask for her resignation. We request a response in a timely manner.
Sincerely,
Staunton Federation of Teachers Local 4818
