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Show 1 AFT ee Alpiee for grievance rights Teat U?me Federation of chers, Local 4217, and the Alpine ol District Board of Education J o(hapH0dds regarding interpretation , . district's grievance policy. IW of the AFT filed a suit in . j,,, h, District Court Sept. 26 C the D'st"ct Board of "folio alled8'ng the is not jUse it won't allow AFT mem-feder mem-feder ! ?e represented by the Da 'n 'n grievance hearings. , v'd Crow, AFT president, says tliev h Who belon8 t0 the AFT feel by ; ,Ve the right to be represented rgan v.lduals from their . own f nation in any grievances that progress from the first level individual in-dividual school principal) to he superintendent (level two of he grievance procedure) and or the school board (level three). Association) represent them. Mr Crow says the AFT feels the district is not only going aga.ns Sir own policy, but also against Utah's Right to Work law. "The grievance policy (in one section) states that teachers can choose any party they want to represent them - and that's right in the district police," Mr. Crow said, stating sections of the policy in question. The suit claims the Alpine School District is denying teachers their constitutional rights as outlined in the First and Fourteenth amendments amend-ments to the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Utah. The suit was prompted by the efforts of 19 Mountain View High School (Orem) teachers to have AFT represent them in two separate grievances, Mr. Crow said. Those efforts were denied, when the grievances reached the school board level, after administrative and legal advisors informed the district it would be a violation of the district policy to allow AFT to represent the teachers. "Everything went okay until the grievance reached the third level," Mr. Crow said. Mr. Crow said AFT doesn't believe the AEA will effectively represent the interests of AFT members in any grievance procedures. Nick Franklin, AEA president, disagrees, saying both organizations stands to lose anytime a teacher is treated improperly. "It has nothing to do with what association is there. We're going to fight for their rights as well as everyone's rights," he said. If the AEA doesn't properly represent a teacher, it could result in a negative precedent that would affect all teachers, Mr. Franklin said. Both emphasized the dispute has nothing to do with current salary negotiations where the AEA is involved in-volved in negotfations. Dr. Clark L. Cox, district superintendent, said the teachers could be represented by their own association during the first step of the grievance procedure, which is with the principal of their school, but district policy says they have to be represented by someone from the majority association (in this case the AEA) at levels two (with the superintendent) and three (the school board). "We are just following this policy," he said. Dr. Cox said the complaint had been turned over to district attorneys. at-torneys. He said he could not comment on specifics in it. The AEA represents an estimated 75 to 80 percent of the teachers in the district, Mr. Franklin said. |