NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The head of the New Rochelle public school union is denying allegations that he and other union official harassed a union member who has alleged she was the victim of discrimination.
Guadalupe Mounir, a District employee at Ward School, has filed a U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission complaint that she has been for years a victim of discrimination and harassment and the neither the District nor the union took steps to stop it. Last week she filed an updated complaint alleging that she has been harassed for filing her EEOC complaint, a very serious allegation.
Martin Daly, President of the Federation of United School Employees (F.U.S.E.), issued a statement to address what he terms “inaccurate statements” regarding these allegations of “discriminatory and hostile conduct” involving the union. The complainant in the case, Guadalupe Mounir, is being advised by Martin Sanchez, a former New Rochelle Board of Education member, who has been assisting in bringing forward her discrimination claim.
Beyond the issue of the claims made by Mournir, is the question of her representation in a meeting scheduled for December 5 with Mr. Joseph Williams, Assistant to the Superintendent for Human Resources. The F.U.S.E. contract states that a union member can be represented at a grievance meeting by anyone other than an officer of a union other than F.U.S.E. Mournir wants a union official and Sanchez to attend the meeting. The F.U.S.E. objects to representing Mournir in the meeting from what they term a “second seat”, insisting that Mournir either accept union representation or obtain her own representation (Sanchez) but that she cannot have both.
The District does not want Sanchez in the meeting at all.
Daly stated that he did not intimidate or harass Mounir last week but only met with her to “clarify for her the need to identify whom she wishes to accompany her to the scheduled December 5.”
Daly did admit that after Mournir stated that she did not want to discuss the matter with Daly or make a decision until after she had spoken with Sanchez or Mike Tozzo, the F.U.S.E. Vice-President for School Related Professionals of which Mournir is a member that he continued to press her to choose between Sanchez and the union. Daly also admitted that Karole Douglas and Nilda Nye attempted to speak with Mournir at his behest for the purpose of delivering a letter from Daly to Mournir after Mournir had stated that she did not want to discuss the matter. Daly insisted that neither Douglas or Nye were seeking to discourage Mournir from moving forward with her EEOC complaint.
The letter, which Daly provided to Talk of the Sound, is a summary of his discussion with Mournir from his perspective.
Daly went on to deny Sanchez’ allegation that there is “some kind of organized effort between the union and the Superintendent to discourage Ms. Mounir from bringing forwards her allegations”. Daly termed the claims “false”.
Daly also denied that he had engaged in bullying directed at union VP Mike Tozzo who has been assisting Mournir.
Daly’s email, which was copied to Talk to of the Sound and El Diario, a leading Spanish language newspaper, became highly personal, going so far as to accuse Sanchez of including media outlets in his email exchanges as a way to “settle scores” for what he described as a “years old vendetta against the FUSE and the school district” which Daly claims is rooted in Sanchez’ alleged “resentment over the long ago termination of your wife’s employment as a teacher during her probationary period”.
In response, a clearly irritated Sanchez, asked Daly to elaborate.
“Was my wife terminated from the district?” Sanched asked.
No,technically your wife resigned from the district. I should have been more precise. The precise answer, as you are no doubt aware since you were serving as a Board of Education member at the time, was that the district informed your wife that her probationary appoint as a foreign language teacher at ALMS would be dis-continued, and as a result of that fact, she tendered her resignation.
Most districts in the region allow a probationary teacher whose performance was unsatisfactory and who has been told his/her employment would not be continued, to resign rather than be terminated by Board Resolution in order ot to hinder the teacher’s future job search.
It is unusual for there to be a public discussion of terms upon which a teacher left the employment of the District and may have further legal implications for Daly, the District and the union.