Everett teachers union files charge against district

Published 10:07 pm Monday, June 2, 2008

EVERETT — The Everett teachers union on Monday filed a complaint against the Everett School District, charging that the district committed an unfair labor practice by installing surveillance equipment in a teacher’s classroom last year.

The Everett Education Association argued that the district had an obligation to notify the union about using surveillance equipment without notice and to bargain the issue.

Superintendent Carol Whitehead told the Everett School Board last week that she consulted with Assistant Superintendent Karst Brandsma about the use of a video camera before it was installed.

Brandsma authorized its use in the hallway near the teacher’s classroom, but the camera was installed inside the classroom, Whitehead told the board.

The concealed camera was placed on the ceiling inside the classroom of Kay Powers, who was an English and journalism teacher at Cascade High School. Powers was suspended in June and fired in November for helping students publish an underground newspaper using district computers and equipment despite warnings not to do so.

Whitehead said the purpose of the camera was to determine who was entering and leaving the classroom on weekends and late in the evening to ensure the safety of a student.

Powers, 65, was reinstated after the district and the teachers union reached a settlement in April. She is now teaching English at Henry M. Jackson High School in Mill Creek.

Union officials said the district overstepped its legal bounds.

“It is a very serious issue and disturbing for all teachers as well as for this community” said Kim Mead, president of the Everett Education Association. “The association has never been notified or had opportunity to negotiate this issue.”

The complaint was filed with the Public Employment Relations Commission in Olympia. A hearing officer is expected to be assigned the case.