Glickman Saga Response to Letter in Westside Gazzette

• TO: THE READERS OF THE WESTSIDE GAZZETTE:
• FROM: A BROWARD TEACHERS UNION EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBER STANDING FOR JUSTICE.
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• Thank you for voting in ACTION 4 MEMBERS SLATE!
• We now hold 12 seats on the BTU Executive Board determined to be your voice!
• Previously...
• A serious, unprofessional, undemocratic and insulting accusation was levied in writing in a newspaper against "anyone" who dared disagree!  ANYONE!  Really?
• The Westside Gazzette, a local Broward newspaper with deep roots and a history in the Broward County community published a letter written by Ted Florival-Victor, a new appointee of President Sharon Glickman's to the Broward Teachers Union Executive Board. 
• In this letter Mr. Florival-Victor demonstrates exactly, in black and white for all to see, the kinds of attacks those who dare to question President Sharon Glickman are up against.
• To begin with I doubt that the letter that bears his name was written by him since he has no way of knowing all the disclosed facts about President Glickman.  The letter reads like a Glickman press release.

•  When she decided to run for president, it wasn’t because it was a glamorous or powerful position. She did it because she so desperately wanted to see BTU be the organization that it’s members deserve.

  How could this newly appointed eboard member possibly know what "she so desperately wanted?"  I have suspicions that the origin of this letter is Glickman herself.  Nevertheless, it bears Mr. Florival-Victor's name, so I will continue as if it had been written by the man himself.
• In the last two lines of his letter, he accuses and insults every teacher, steward, technical support staff, para professional, local leader and eboard member who dares to disagree with the high opinion his letter declares of the Broward Teachers Union President.  Further, he insinuates that to voice any opinion other than his would indicate an individual has sinister motivations and wishes to work against Broward Teachers Union.

• Sharon Glickman has exhibited all of the qualities and dedication any member could hope for in a BTU President. Anybody who would say otherwise has motivations that are not in the best interest of Broward Teachers Union.

• These are reprehensible accusations that no teacher, steward, eboard member, local leader, or even the individuals quoted in the Westside Gazzette article should have to endure!

•  I find it unfortunate that a fellow eboard member would lower himself to state such a thing in writing, rather than just sticking to the facts! 
• This is a perfect illustration of why BTU seems out of control to many of us on the inside. 
• Some people who defend Glickman;s actions do not understand how to have opposing dialogue and keep it professional. 
• I for one will no longer keep my comments directed privately to FEA , AFT and our BTU Executive Board as they have been for over a year, since the onset of what I and 8 other members and opposition candidates considered an unfair and unethical election.  If someone claiming to defend President Glickman goes beyond supporting her good works and ventures into the arena of accusing "ANYBODY" of having "MOTIVATIONS that are not in the best interest of Broward Teachers Union," I would say they can expect to be held accountable.
• Mr. Florival-Victor, I would like a retraction of your inflammatory accusation!
• We do not all have to agree whether or not President Glickman is directing the union in the way that is best suited for the advancement of our members, but those of us who are elected or appointed as leaders can avoid public scrutiny if we stick to the facts, and not make baseless and offensive accusations.
• I now feel compelled to address your accusations directly, something I would have preferred never to have to do.

• Sincerely,

• Terry Preuss, NBCT
• Career Public Educator
• NSU - SFWP Teacher Consultant
• BTU Executive Board Member 2013-2016
• SBBC District Advisory Council Appointee
• Author, Voices in the Hall, Amazon
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• Dear Mr. Ted Florival-Victor

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• I am seriously concerned about the letter you submitted that was published in the January 29, 2015 publication of the Westside Gazzette.  It might not have been to your liking, or to President Glickman's or to the SBBC, but in my opinion the article was truthful.  We haven't gotten our raises, and we have lost many rights with our present contract.
• What attack and what lies do you speak of in your letter? Can you be specific?  

• After seeing the outlandish attack printed against BTU President Sharon Glickman that was riddled with lies, I couldn’t help but feel that it would be an injustice not to tell your readers the REAL story.

  First, I'd like to understand how you even know the "REAL" story since you were NOT around for any of it!  Also,
  I saw no lies in the Westside Gazzette story, just the opinions of some members who have a right to voice those opinions without fearing the attack of an Executive Board Member Appointee such as yourself.
• All union members have the right to free expression even if they oppose the opinions of the president.  It is written in state and national labor relations law.   
• I support all opinions from our members coming forward, including yours and Dr. Leslie Starr's as seen in her detailed letter of resignation, since this is a free country and a democracy the last time I checked.  But, your inappropriate accusation that "Anybody who would say otherwise (Than your opinions of Glickman) has motivations that are not in the best interest of Broward Teachers Union" is actionable in my opinion, and seems like an attempt to intimidate or coerce the rights of others.  These are not the words of someone who wants to express an opinion.  These are the words of someone who wants to intimidate or cast doubt to the differing opinions of others.
• I can only hope they were added by someone else after you submitted your original letter!
•  These words are wrongly insinuating that if we disagree with the actions of our present leaders that we are somehow against BTU.  How wrong you are!  I am for BTU, very much for it, but I disagree completely with your view of the condition of our union.  Your divisive words seemed poised to put fear into "anybody" who dare speak up, and that is not what democracy is about.  Neither are those the principles our country and our union were founded on.
• Perhaps that a member mentions that she is unhappy with our last contract upsets you.  Perhaps that upsets you because you were placed on the negotiations team shortly after being appointed by Glickman.  You are a teacher, and from what I have seen of you in meetings, you are also a fine, and well spoken man.  I'm sure you did your very best to express your feelings during the negotiations, but you are NOT an experienced contract negotiator, nor were any on the negotiations team, a Glickman decision.
• While utilizing the strength and voices of our earnest teachers during negotiations is valuable, at a time when there is a national assault on education, Florida being one of the most assaulted states with SB 736 breathing an unprecedented and possibly yet to be determined unlawful dragon's fire into our profession, I think experienced, tough negotiators, rather than well-intentioned educators would have been a better defense against the bill's arbitrary and archaic demands on our teachers, unions and districts.
• We did have the worst contract in BTU history.  Some of it may be the fault of new laws, some of funding allocations, but one can not fail to note that the negotiating team was not the experienced BTU team we had in prior years. That you might have been part of that team and might have taken comments made in The Westside Gazzette story personally is unfortunate, but let me assure you that multitudes of teachers felt let down.  Many high school teachers described feeling demoralized by working for 11 dollars an hours instead of their professional pay after the arbitration fiasco.  Others said they felt robbed by the loss of promised and earned step increases.   Now we are told those earned and promised salaries are forever lost.  These are not conditions in which talented, hardworking teachers can flourish, and these were negotiation team decisions made by President Glickman.
• The article did not tell outlandish lies as you call them.  Not at all.  The article told sad and bitter truths that we now live with.  Further proof of the negotiations problems which may or may not be caused by inexperienced negotiators/ educators chosen to stand instead of savvy, trained contract negotiators who understand our county.   April is upon us,  and we have yet to receive the raises that were promised and pre-negotiated last yearI
• Does that seem normal to you?  Does it seem normal to anyone that the leadership team at BTU can do no better for our hardworking members?
• I understand that there is some debate as to whether or not it is the county, or the union, or the state that frustrated teachers and other education professionals must point to, but be assured, teachers are frustrated.  Many are frustrated with BTU leadership, clearly indicated by a dismally low voter turn out.  Only 2000 or so members even voted in the last presidential election.  You called Glickman's win a "landslide," but such was not the case.  In fact she won, according to my recollection, by less number of votes than the number of votes that the election company decided to "invalidate."  To this date, the invalidated votes have not been produced to the Executive Board. Why?
• I know that you are newly appointed, and. you can not possibly understand the unfair maneuverings that those of us who have watched month after month for more than two years understand, so I won't fault you for having a different view of reality that the teachers interviewed in the story, but to say that their motivations are "against BTU" is outrageous, out of line, and really needs to be retracted.  Comments like that offend not just the teachers interviewed, and the  Westside Gazzette itself, but all the rest of us who read the article who might have agreed with some of the points.  Our motivations are not to be judged or questioned by you, or placed in doubt of our allegiance to BTU, our union, that we pay dues to so they can stand for us and defend us.  
• Please stick to our actions, how we serve our union, and to the facts.
• Unfortunately, there are many facts that do not cast a positive glow on BTU, especially for those of us who have been on the board longer than yourself and who are at all the meetings and attentively aware.  Frankly, since I was elected, I have been very concerned for BTU because I do not feel that we are focused on the member's needs. I have done as much as I could to try to help.  I even offered to run for vice president and later was asked to run for president.  My slate was discarded and ignored on the ballot unfairly.  Out of 9 competitors in the 2014 election, all but one levied serious complaints against President Glickman's BTU Leaders Slate.  You may not know this, but all of us felt that unfair, unethical and possibly unlawful things occurred during that election.  In its aftermath, none of the requests for information or paperwork have been granted fully. You might not understand how that affects so many of us on the executive board, but it does, and it affects BTU that over 100 election complaints were made and that most were ignored, even after AFT had to be called in because the BTU Elections Appeals Committee had to recuse itself.
• Now a new election cycle is over with in which you were running and still the problems of the last election have not been sorted, and this election is also riddled with many violations and complaints.  In fact, the very flyer you slate handed out had numerous irregularities that under normal circumstances could cost your entire slate to be disqualified. Instead, you were given extra time to fix everything.  Why?  These are not "sour grapes" individuals bringing forth these complaints. They have WON this election.  These are reputable educators and leaders, as reputable as I am sure you consider yourself, and they have legitimate complaints due to violations that they will pursue, even after their VICTORY because it is the right thing to do.
• BTU actually sent out official emails to members defaming the Action 4 Members Slate.  This is a major violation in union law, but also in civil law.  My sources tel me that the libelous statements made against the winning slate will not be dropped or forgotten.  Because every member who voted for Action 4 Members deserves to know that their new elected officials who won 7 seats on the eboard will follow through insure future elections are fair, and just, contracts are better negotiated, and that service is given readily when needed to members.
• You can say all you want about President Glickman's accomplishments, but you can not deny the problems that we have faced as a union since she took over for AFT have been serious to deal with, and have not brought service and security to our members..  Just read some of the posts on teacher FB pages, or on the Broward Teachers Union FB page (if they do not delete the negative comments too quickly) or on the BTU NEW U FB page, where all the Action 4 Members Slate newly elected Eboard members are already connecting with members and giving them ideas for help, even before they take office.  That is real service.  On BTU NEW U we speak openly about the assault on education and teachers tell us how they feel about national and local problems and we do not delete their posts.  We deal with them, both the positive and the negative.
• Teachers are not feeling empowered, they are feeling downtrodden and overwhelmed, and on top of the extra responsibilities many complain of feeling bullied, harassed, and overworked by everything from state mandates, to poor evaluations to unreasonable demands,to the loss of teacher autonomy and creativity.  In the face of all of this we have had a multiple year salary freeze followed by a loss of step and salary increases promised to us when we were hired.  Members need HOPE and they need SERVICE.  They do not need intimidation tactics printed in a popular local newspaper like the Westside Gazzette to further stifle the few voices willing to speak up and ask for CHANGE.
• I got on to the eboard to help our members and what I found was an eboard that talked for hours about many things, but member needs was rarely among the topics of discussion.Why?  Why would the BTU executive board meet for hours on end and not discuss how to help our members in the trenches?  Why were there no sweeping initiatives to empower teacher voices, ensure principals follow the contract, and demand that unreasonable and extra burdensome legislative demands be side stepped or paid as extra wages?  Why?
• So I decided to run for office and what I found shocked me.  Unfair elections. Rules violations.  Unethical behaviors and practices defended by incumbents, later appointed on the elections and appeals committees. I was not expecting to find corruption , but corruption and a will to conceal the truth is what I found.  Sorry to tell you... that is not acceptable, and too many of us have now seen it for ourselves.
• Anyone who tried to speak up was instantly castigated, yelled at, or marginalized.  They even tried it with me!  Not acceptable!  Not acceptable to silence me or ANY member.  It is union law!  It has to be followed!  Voices must be heard. Period.  So... please retract the last statement of your letter. 
• Since being on the Eboard I have been yelled at, spit on, lied to, bullied, and called a variety of names from sore loser, to bitter loser, to queen, to liar.  In all my years of service I have never been so utterly disrespected.  I have served on a number of committees and organization leadership committees in LA, Dade, and Broward county.  I have always been respected and have conducted myself professionally and ethically.
• Along with me there are other members who have conducted themselves ethically and professionally.  They stand with me to say that our voices will not be silenced, not by BTU in outrageous emails and not by your letter.  We demand fair representation by our union, and even after victory, they will not let anyone forget how they have been discriminated against.
•  9 of us were harmed, lied to, ignored, and discriminated against in 2014.  Our names are:
  Henry Sergey
  Christopher Townley
  Terry Preuss
  Anna Fusco
  Leslie Starr
  Ann Marie Burgess
  Wellington Andreas
  Liz Shurak
  Anna Marie Pierpont
  
  WE WILL NOT FORGET!!  
• 7 newly elected Eboard members were also harmed, lied to, ignored and discriminated against in the 2015 election,  Their names are:
• Kenny Minchew
• Liliana Ruido
• Betty Warren
• Rochelle "Shelly" Soffer
• Sandra Nunez
• Wendy Vazquez
• Joan King
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• THEY/WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED.  
• THEY/WE WILL NOT FORGET.
• THEY/WE ARE UNAFRAID.
• TOGETHER, ALL OF US WILL SERVE BTU MEMBERS.
• THE TIME FOR CHANGE HAS COME.  THE TIME FOR CHANGE IS NOW.
• INTIMIDATION TACTICS ARE SO 20TH CENTURY!
• PLEASE HELP US SERVE OUR MEMBERS NOW!
• Sincerely,


• Terry Preuss, NBCT
• Career Public Educator
• NSU - SFWP Teacher Consultant
• BTU Executive Board Member 2013-2016
• SBBC District Advisory Council Appointee
• Author, Voices in the Hall, Amazon