VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — Volusia County’s teacher’s union, also known as Volusia United Educators, claims a recent move made by the school district and board could disrupt a crucial step in its recertification process.
▶ WATCH CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS
During a board meeting on Tuesday, Union President Elizabeth Albert asked staff why they reached out to the Florida Public Employees Relations Commission or “PERC,” about the union membership threshold. Some board members said they were unaware this happened, but the district’s attorney said otherwise.
“The superintendent directed and I communicated with each one of you, individually, discuss the ramifications of filing a notice to PERC,” said attorney Kevin Pendley.
Read: Orange County cancels contract with lobbying firm GrayRobinson
Albert admits it did appear some board members may have been mislead or did not fully understand what they were agreeing to. She’s now asking the district to contact PERC and take back what it did.
“They could resend all of their filings and they could come out and make a public statement to every single teacher, paraprofessional in this district and say we didn’t understand what we were doing, we received information that was misleading and we apologize,” said Albert.
Read: New details unveiled as Disney’s affordable housing complex overcomes rocky start
The district sent a statement about the situation to Eyewitness News that said:
“The union was required to file an annual recertification petition that met statutory density requirements of 60% unit participation on the 30th day prior to the filing (September 24, 2023). Because VUE’s recertification petition appeared to take the position that the density was met more than 30 days prior to filing, the School Board requested on several occasions that VUE provide the data to support their unit participation numbers. That request was not answered. We have received no data to date from VUE. The purpose of the notice was to comply with the state employer’s responsibility under the labor participation statute. The board did not take a legal position, but merely notified PERC that the union representations did not appear to meet statutory density requirements by the recertification deadline.”
Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
©2024 Cox Media Group
