Union: Super starts year with ‘disparaging letter’

TRENTON » New Superintendent Fred McDowell had decided to welcome back the school community by criticizing those who have questioned his controversial early decisions.

In the second paragraph of a letter sent Friday to staff, McDowell wasted no time attempting to admonish school unions and city council members who held a rally outside of the Board of Education building the previous day, protesting his new policies.

“It is extremely unfortunate that several association leaders have chosen to aggressively mislead the community and spread untrue allegations to promote their personal agenda,” McDowell says in the letter. “It is also unfortunate that we have several City Council members feeding into this historically disrespectful, counterproductive narrative that continues to hurt the City of Trenton and its ability to move forward. It is the District’s hope to work positively with all stakeholders for the betterment of students and the Greater Trenton community.”

McDowell, who came over from Philadelphia in June, continued his attack.

“Such misleading and unprofessional rumors serve as a meaningless distraction to the important work with which we are charged,” the superintendent’s letter reads. “It further detracts from the incredible responsibility that all Trenton Public School (TPS) staff members have placed upon them; to support the needs of our students and put them first. It also damages our District’s reputation and diminishes the tremendous sacrifice that TPS staff members make every single day.”

Tensions arose starting on Monday night when the school board enacted a new policy to limit the public comment portion of the meeting, censoring 30 speakers who were signed up to address the body. The new superintendent also has implemented the elimination of teachers taking off half days.

At Thursday’s protest, school unions, parents, faculty, staff, community organizations and elected officials said they would “not be silenced” by the new superintendent.

Trenton Education Association President Naomi Johnson-Lafleur was also quick to respond to McDowell’s attack on Friday.

“It is so unfortunate that Superintendent McDowell would rather send out a mass communication of this type to the entire staff rather than making a direct call to me,” the teachers union boss said. “This is just one more example of how he intends to rule from the top-down. Mr. McDowell continues to demonstrate his tenacity and his complete disregard for the union.”

Johnson-Lafleur said the union has not been allowed to address its concerns to the superintendent’s “many oppressive policies” and was sent an invitation only for a “Implementation of Policies” meeting.

“I have clearly communicated, that collaboration does not begin at the end of the process,” the union president said. “I have clearly articulated that we are not pawns and as the president of the Trenton Education Association, I will not let this superintendent and his team inflict anxiety and stress upon our members. What type of ‘Welcome Back’ letter is this? We as educators know that teaching is at the core of our hearts. It is the administrators who inflict anxiety and stress and make our jobs frustrating.”

McDowell stressed “collaboration” in his letter, but also took time to respond to “misrepresentations” about his new policies for the upcoming school year.

The superintendent claimed to give unions a chance to vent their woes at a meeting on Thursday about the policies that he says were adopted in 2011, but the administrators union was the only association to attend.

“It is difficult to collaborate when one does not engage,” McDowell said. “Our message has been and will continue to be very simple. We need to demonstrate the improvements that we know are possible, and prioritize teaching and learning.”

The teachers union leader, however, said “there are no misunderstandings.”

“In fact, this letter is all telling,” she said. “It is unfortunate that Board legal counsel and the Board president would approve such correspondence to welcome teaching staff back to a new school year ... I know that despite this disparaging letter, (the teachers) will all continue to keep our children first.”