This was the right thing to do and they should have done the right thing since the beginning, because they are our employer and they know that these teachers worked and did the job.
The McAllen school district finally relented this month and agreed to pay six employees at Morris Middle School a total of $18,000 over online education work they did during the pandemic without being compensated.
A grievance filed by McAllen’s American Federation of Teachers union last year claimed teachers at Morris had not been accurately informed about compensation for a virtual teaching program they participated in during the 2021-2022 school year.
Those teachers, the union said, ended the year without a $3,000 stipend they understood they would be paid.
The district notified AFT that its members at Morris would get that money on March 3.
“I do feel that justice has been done,” McAllen AFT President Sylvia Tanguma told The Monitor. “I wish it didn’t have to take this long, or for us to have gone through the process that we went through — because it wasn’t necessary. This was the right thing to do and they should have done the right thing since the beginning, because they are our employer and they know that these teachers worked and did the job.”
The district had acknowledged miscommunication over compensation for that online work localized to Morris, but resisted granting the AFT’s grievance for months.
In a public hearing in February a district lawyer argued against paying those teachers, mostly saying the union didn’t file its grievance in a timely fashion and that the district could open something of a can of worms by granting it.
Instead of denying the grievance or granting it, the board decided to send it back down to level two, to again be considered at the administrative level.
“I think they wanted to put it on them,” Tanguma said. “To have administration fix what they did wrong. Because why didn’t the board just grant it?”
Tanguma says she’s not sure why the administration changed its mind. Assistant Superintendent for Instructional Services Rosalba De Hoyos served as grievance officer both times the matter was considered at level two, she said.
De Hoyos’ March 3 letter to the union says that after a “thorough review of the record and a reconsideration of arguments and documents,” AFT’s members were entitled to the money.
“On our level one, it was denied. And then on our level two, it was denied. And so then we go to the level three, and they send it back to the level two. And then that same letter that we had denied now says granted,” Tanguma said.
About 15 educators participated in that online learning program at Morris, while some 220 employees took part in it district-wide.
One non-union teacher at Morris appears to have successfully gotten her money after a grievance hearing before the board last August, which inspired the AFT to pursue its teachers’ money.
Initially the union represented seven teachers in the grievance, though one dropped out during the process and declined to accept the $3,000 even after it was clear the union would win.
We at AFT are very grateful for the fact that they finally granted this, and so are the members. They really are grateful that they got their money, because it was truly unfair to them. Because they did the work.
Tanguma speculated that the member was nervous about having his name attached to the controversy, saying his reason for dropping out was that he “has friends in HR and he just did not want to be a part of it.”
It’s unclear where things stand for the seven or so remaining non-union educators at the school who also participated in the online program.
The district wouldn’t say Tuesday whether non-union teachers would get paid and declined to talk about the situation at all, describing it as a personnel matter.
Tanguma says AFT is not presently pursuing similar payments at other schools in the district. Largely, she said, there just doesn’t seem to be evidence that a similar miscommunication occurred at any other schools.
Though disappointed it took so long, Tanguma said she’s glad the grievance is resolved.
“We at AFT are very grateful for the fact that they finally granted this, and so are the members,” she said. “They really are grateful that they got their money, because it was truly unfair to them. Because they did the work.”
