Fired Concord teacher Lori Fosdick will be allowed to go before an arbitrator to argue to get her job back, or her case could be headed to the state’s Supreme Court.
The school district had requested to delay arbitration until after the Public Employee Labor Relations Board settles the district’s complaint against the teachers’ union alleging unfair labor practice. That request was rejected by the labor board ruling Thursday allowing arbitration to go forward – for now.
Ed Kaplan, the school district’s attorney, said the teachers’ union breached its contract when it filed a grievance disputing the content of a letter Superintendent Terri Forsten sent to Fosdick recommending she be fired.
Allowing the grievance to go forward, “presents a very significant risk to the Concord School District if an arbitrator appears before the final resolution of these steps to determine that we should reinstate a teacher who has been found by the school board to present a danger to its students, ” Kaplan said.
Fosdick was fired in February for improperly restraining a special needs student at Broken Ground School. Parents of special needs children at the school, however, have been among Fosdick’s most vocal supporters.
Fosdick taught in the district for more than 10 years before she was removed from the classroom this year. Even with the arbitration process allowed to proceed, her attorney said it’s likely there won’t be a decision until at least November.
At a hearing Thursday, the labor board’s three members unanimously denied the district’s motion to delay arbitration; however, they gave each side 30 days to file briefs supporting their arguments in the case.
Chairman Andrew Eills said he would accept a renewed motion from the district at that time, to be decided after other legal arguments are settled.
In the meantime, the arbitration process won’t meaningfully advance until the fall, because the teachers whose testimony is required were unavailable for the three dates proposed in July and August, said Jim Allmendinger, the attorney representing the Concord Education Association.
Each side has signaled that it may appeal an unsatisfying resolution in court.
“The ultimate decision in this case is not going to happen until we get to the Supreme Court, likely,” he added.
The parties’ next filings are due to the labor board on July 7.
Concord’s school board voted, 6-2, in a nonpublic session Feb. 16 to fire Fosdick. The two sides tried to reach a settlement over the next month, but those talks fell apart March 20 and led to the demand for arbitration.
(Nick Reid can be reached at 369-3325, nreid@cmonitor.com or on Twitter at
@NickBReid.)