A judge found the Bandon School District violated state law by involuntarily transferring four teachers after contentious contract negotiations.
In a recommended order issued this week, Administrative Law Judge Stephanie Miller found the district transferred the teachers because of their union activity and sought to discourage such activity. She recommended reinstating the teachers and ordering the district to pay the Bandon Education Association a $1,000 civil penalty. The decision is not yet final.
The Bandon Education Association filed an unfair labor practices complaint with the state Employment Relations Board last summer, arguing the district retaliated against bargaining team members by transferring them to different positions without following proper protocol.
Miller held a three-day hearing in February and issued her recommendation Aug. 3.
This follows more than a year of turmoil in the small coastal district, including allegations of administrative misconduct, employee and school board member resignations and a third-party investigation. Some administrators mentioned in the complaint, including the superintendent and high school principal, have since resigned.
In a statement, interim Superintendent Steve Sugg said the district looks forward to resolving the issue and moving ahead.
"The district has received the preliminary order and is working with our legal team on a response and next steps," he said. "Our focus is on creating a great teaching and learning environment for our staff and students."
Miller's recommended order is not yet final. Both parties have two weeks to file objections. The Oregon Employment Relations Board will issue the final order.
Miller wrote the school district involuntarily transferred the teachers because of their union activity and worked to discourage such activity. Union actions are protected under state law.
She also questioned the credibility of some district witnesses, writing that many statements by former Superintendent Shauna Schmerer "strain credulity."
Schmerer did not respond to a request for comment.
Miller also said important district meeting notes are missing from the record, which she wrote "gives rise to a reasonable inference that they would not support the District’s reasons for the involuntary transfers.”
The district had argued the transfers were justified by enrollment declines, budget constraints and concerns about instructional rigor.
But Miller said the evidence did not support the district's given reasons for transferring the teachers.
In addition to the civil penalty, she recommended that the four teachers be reinstated to their original positions. Three of the four have already resigned from the district.
She also recommended that the district be required to post a notice acknowledging its unfair labor practices in prominent places and send it to all union members.
"This is a huge win, not just for the union members who were targeted, but for the entire Bandon community, its students and educators," Chico Robinson, local representative for the Oregon Education Association, wrote in a statement.
Kate Hawthorne, one of the teachers who was involuntarily transferred, agreed.
"It’s been hard to go through this year plus of turmoil over the actions of BSD’s previous leadership," she wrote in a statement. "I just wish we could go back and have them recognize the error in their ways last summer. The fallout from all of this has been tremendous. I feel vindicated and look forward to moving on."
Union President Jen Ells is the only one of the four transferred teachers who still works at the district.
"There is an enormous relief in this ruling, validation that truth can win," she wrote in a statement. "We look forward to this new school year, building our district back to a place of excellence and integrity."
