On May 15 the Healdsburg Area Teachers Association (HATA), California Teachers Association (CTA)/National Education Association filed an unfair practice charge against the Healdsburg Unified School District with the State of California Public Employment Relations Board in relation to the Greg Costa incident.
The announcement was made at the Wednesday, May 15 Healdsburg Unified School District Board of Trustees meeting amid a slew of students, parents and teachers who came to the meeting in support of Costa, a 30-year veteran math teacher at Healdsburg Junior High School who has been on a paid leave of absence since April 29.
Jacob F. Rukeyser, a CTA staff counsel, filed the complaint statement.
In part the statement says within the six months prior to the filing of the charge the district interfered with the rights of its employees as well as the association’s rights.
The claim cites 19 points in a five-page statement as supporting evidence.
To read the statement in its entirety click here.
“Today we file an unfair labor practice charge against the Healdsburg Unified School District in protest of the draconian and heavy-handed management decisions to remove our member Greg Costa from the classroom without due process and without just cause,” said HATA Union President Ever Flores. “Some of you may be asking yourselves, ‘how did we get here?’ The answer is anything but simple. It is actually very messy, ugly, uncomfortable, agonizing, bitter and insidious. What happened to Greg Costa is but a symptom of something much nefarious, a pervasive culture of silencing dissenting voices.”
In an email Healdsburg Unified School District Superintendent Chris Vanden Heuvel said of the unfair labor practice charge, “Life teaches us that there are two, if not more, sides to every story, complaint, and criticism. I ask everyone reading this message to consider a time that they have been accused of something, only to realize that the person casting criticism is not sharing the entire story. In education, teachers and administrators learn this lesson early on, because a student’s interpretation of a situation might be different than the teacher’s, or a parent’s, or a bystander. Reasonable minds know that we must gather all the facts before we come to a conclusion when evaluating a conflict.”
Flores referred to a May 9 letter that was sent out to parents in the community that stated the district does not tolerate retaliation, however, Flores said that he himself has allegedly been a victim of retaliation.
“It truly saddens me to say that I have been a victim of retaliation,” Flores said.
“I want you to keep in mind that I have asked dozens of members to come out of the woodworks and they do not because they fear reprisal,” Flores continued. “It is not easy for me to say this but as the elected leader and the only Latino male in the district, if it happened to me, then what else happened to our members?”
Flores claims that a year ago someone close to the superintendent verbally accosted him in front of his students.
“When I informed the superintendent, I was faced with an incredulous laugh and an assertion that my statement was shear hyperbole,” Flores claimed.
He claims that it wasn’t until he emailed the board that he received an apology and a private investigator was hired to look into the incident. Flores alleges that the investigator found it to be legitimate.
Yet after that Flores claims that, “Within a month of starting the school year I received a very peculiar email from the high school accusing me of stuff that I didn’t do. The CTA reached out to me to see if I would be willing to take a two-week leave of absence to work with them. I simply asked the superintendent for his advice and he (allegedly) said to get a sub and since it is difficult to get a sub I decided to drop the case. I later got an email saying I surreptitiously went around school site administrators and asked for a leave for absence when I did no such thing.”
He also said around the same time he received numerous phone calls from members asking to investigate certain matters. He said he contacted the district office but was allegedly once again reprimanded for reaching out.
In the same email, Vanden Heuvel said of Flores’ claims, “We respect and carefully adhere to confidentiality laws regarding our employees, so I cannot legally discuss personnel matters publicly. Any employee who believes they’ve been retaliated against can submit a complaint that will be appropriately investigated.”
In response to the assertions from Flores, school board trustee president Jami Kiff said, “I would like to express my deep concern and disappointment that individuals are using this public forum to make assertions that violate board policy, and are accusatory and deeply personal while the speakers know full well that the board and the district are precluded from responding and correcting this information publicly. We have clearly defined complaint procedures that they have chosen not to follow and this creates discord and division in our community and that is not fair to our students, parents, staff and especially those accused of wrongdoing.”
Non-agenda public comment regarding Costa
Before the announcement of the PERB complaint, several parents and teachers spoke in support of Costa during the non-agenda public comment session.
By 5:50 p.m. council chambers were full, with standing room only.
Junior high students were also in attendance and some held signs in support of Costa. One such sign read, “Mr. Costa’s mistreatment is a symptom of an unhealthy HUSD.”
The first public comment was from Costa himself. While he did not directly address the incident allegations that led to his paid leave, he did discuss so-called assertions that the current superintendent and his predecessor Jeff Harding wanted to create a world class school district. Costa called into question whether or not the district is world class.
“Hey, I’m sorry I am not a world class teacher, I am sorry about that. In fact, I don’t even know what a world class teacher looks like,” he said.
His wife Beth Costa was the second speaker and addressed why he chose to retire and that it was not due to a retirement incentive package.
“When Greg was aware of that incentive, he told them clearly that he was not going to retire, I think they needed to have 12 or 14 teachers for the incentive to be paid, so he said do not include me and that I’m not retiring. He really loves working with the students. Ultimately, one straw too many he came home and the two of us decided this was the year. There was never going to be a change, it was a hostile work environment and there was no point in continuing. He said, ‘I always told my family I am not going to retire, I love teaching, I am going to retire when it is no longer fun, so it is no longer fun. And then to you he was saying that you have judged him, that you never visited his class and you don’t know him. I don’t think we need world class we need people with class.”
Nine other community members voiced their support for Costa.
Maddy Hirshfield, the political director from the North Bay Labor Council, alleged there was a clear labor violation without talking to him first.
“Putting Mr. Costa on administrative leave was a clear violation without talking to him first,” Hirshfield said. “We stand in solidarity with teachers and we stand strongly with Mr. Costa.”
The claimant, HATA, is an affiliated member with the labor council.
A seventh grade Healdsburg junior high student, Sophia Villa, also spoke. She called Costa a “phenomenal person” and said she got “a bunch” of blisters on her feet from marching all day and screaming at the top of her lungs, “We want Costa.”
“I’ve personally always had a really hard time with math and trying to learn it but this year was the one year where I actually got an A and started to excel in math … Mr. Costa isn’t only an extraordinary math teacher, but his a phenomenal person in general … Everyone loves Mr. Costa,” she said. “As long as this is a problem, it is not just going to be the parents an adults on your back, it is going to be an army of 11- to 14-year-olds.”
Vanden Heuvel said in response to the complaint, “I understand that the complaint filed against district administrators, me in particular, alleging violations of union rights, is raising questions. Healdsburg is a close community, and one that places great importance on showing our hard-working education professionals respect and deference. But I ask everyone to remember that the complaint is one interpretation of a situation. Further, I believe it is being shared widely because union leaders are fully aware that I am, indeed as all district administrators are, prohibited by law from discussing any employment details in public. The complainant can make one-sided allegations, which we dispute, but we will honor the law and keep our analysis confidential.”
Vanden Heuvel added that he is sorry that the situation is “casting a shadow on the hundreds of dedicated employees in our district who work every day in a collaborative spirit to provide our children with excellent learning opportunities.
“And while I cannot offer details regarding this situation, I assure you that you are hearing only one side, and that we will defend the district’s decisions and actions in the proper way and in accordance with the law,” he said.
