3rd Candidate Enters Teachers Union Race

At the last minute, another challenger emerged in the heated contest for the presidency of the teachers union, along with a full slate of aspirants to the number-two spot.

At a nomination meeting Tuesday evening at the union hall on Chapel Street, Tom Burns, the current executive vice-president, added his name to the two other candidates who are running to head the New Haven Federation of Teachers, the city’s largest public employees union.

The election is shaping into a referendum on the union’s willingness to compromise with City Hall and the Board of Education’s central office.

Dave Cicarella, the union president since 2006, has argued that collaborating with New Haven’s top officials has given teachers a seat at the table in setting their own working conditions. Working with then-Mayor John DeStefano and then-Superintendent Reggie Mayo, Cicarella was able to negotiate a series of school reforms that garnered national attention, especially for teacher evaluations that balanced student test scores with teacher input.

Amid school closures and teacher layoffs, the two challengers, Cameo Thorne and Tom Burns, both said that the union should be trying different tactics. Thorne said she wants to focus on building a grassroots network that can convince the public to stand up for public schools. Burns said he has the know-how to push administrators to offer more concessions.

“Things aren’t heading in the right direction. With the disruptions — layoffs, transfers, administrative leaves — there’s so much chaos that I felt I wanted to get involved,” Burns said. ​“In this moment, we need to stick up for our system, for what we believe in. That’s changed because somebody else has a vision for us, instead of us being a part of the vision-making in the past.”

The campaign for the presidency of the New Haven Federation of Teachers will unfold in break rooms over the next two months. (Kirsten Hopes-McFadden, a teacher at Engineering & Science University Magnet School, has also announced a run for the vice-presidency.) Teachers will receive ballots at their home address in early November, which they must return within the month. The votes will be counted on Dec. 4.

The election could have repercussions throughout the school system and labor force if the city’s largest public-employees union revisits those bargains and steps up other demands.

A longtime school counselor, Burns got his start in union politics when he complained about class sizes. Two decades ago he won a spot on the union leadership. Since 2006, he has served as vice-president behind Cicarella. He focused on contract negotiations.

Burns is now positioning himself between Cicarella and Thorne, saying he’s someone who will to take a tougher stance with the district’s new superintendent but who’s also been inside the union leadership long enough to know how things work.

He added that he wants to use what’s already in the contract to force changes, focusing in particular on utilizing the School Planning and Management Teams, which are supposed to drive decision-making in each building.

“I’m running for president because I don’t believe our status quo is good enough,” Burns said. ​“I understand mediation because I’m a counselor. We start that way; we used to do that and we got results. But see, if you only have one method of doing things — collaboration — you don’t know that sometimes you have to turn that back.”

Steve Mikolike, a special education teacher at Riverside Opportunity High School, said he agrees that Burns knows what teachers are looking for in their contract negotiations.

Mikolike said he first met Buns almost two decades ago, as he was trying to transition back to his hometown from a teaching job in Windham. At the time, the district’s health insurance plan didn’t cover families, he said, until Burns made it happen.

“He asked, ​‘How could this be?’ He stood for something,” Mikolike said. ​“He’s the kind of person you want in your circle.” He added, ​“He leads from the middle. He’s not afraid to have others be in the roles that need to be filled.”

Brad Chernovetz, a math teacher at Hill Regional Career High School, also said that he knows from firsthand experience that Burns will stick up for union members. For almost two years now, Burns has argued on his behalf in a personnel dispute.

“I think it’s time for a change in New Haven,” Chernovetz said. ​“He knows the contract back and forth, and he’s behind his teachers 100 percent. He’s been fighting for our rights for a long time. I think he’d be a strong leader for our union. I have nothing against Dave. I just think it’s time for a new voice to be heard.”

Burns said he wants to flip around the fear and anxiety that so many teachers are currently feeling.

“You will be protected. You will work in a place that you will enjoy working,” he said. ​“I’ve got different tools than just collaboration.”

Three candidates also joined the race for executive vice-president: Pat DeLucia, a special education teacher at Riverside Opportunity High School and the union’s current executive secretary; Kirsten Hopes-McFadden, an eighth-grade history teacher at Engineering & Science University Magnet School and an active member of the watchdog group NHPS Advocates; and Jennifer Wells-Jackson, a literacy coach who previously worked at Bishop Woods Academy and is the union’s current vice-president for middle schools.

All of the vice-presidential candidates are currently running independently, but later this week, they will decide whether they want to match up with the presidential candidates to run as a ticket. After their names were added to the whiteboard, all three sat down together and shared compliments.

“I’m in great company,” Delucia said.

Farther down-ballot, Marc Anthony Solli and Jennifer Chisholm-Emfinger are competing for executive secretary. Michael Pantaleo, the current treasurer, emerged as the only candidate who wanted to keep the position.

David Low and Leslie Blatteau are facing off for vice-president of the high schools; Judith Leach, Delores Marshall, and Carolyn Streets are all in for vice-president of the middle schools; and Todney Harris and Tracy Paige-Harris are competing for vice-president of the elementary schools. Raymond Pompano was the only candidate nominated for vice-president of special services.

Before the ballots are finalized later this week, officials will check the nominations to make sure that the teachers have proper credentials and good standing with the union. The election results will be tabulated on Dec. 4.