Dunn may have violated labor laws, employment board says
By Joann Groff  joann@theacorn.com

Nearly two years after tension between the teachers union and Conejo Valley Unified School District board member Michael Dunn led to a lawsuit, the state employment board has found merit in allegations made by the United Association of Conejo Teachers.

UACT filed an unfair labor practice charge with the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) March 28, 2006 after Dunn polled and repeatedly contacted UACT members regarding the winter break schedule. The association is the "explicit representative" of its members when it comes to schedule bargaining, said Arleigh Kidd, executive director of the union.

"We asked him to stop several times," Kidd said. "The superintendent at the time, Bob Fraise, told him to stop, too. It he would have stopped at that point, it would have been done. But he contacted members again through e-mail, he published letters in the local newspapers, and he released the poll results. This was not our first step," Kidd said. "It was our last, after a couple months of trying to get him to stop."

Now that the PERB attorney has concluded that the district--chiefly Dunn--violated the law, an informal hearing will be held. A meeting had been scheduled for March 4, but was canceled by UACT's attorney, Brenda SuttonWills, because of a scheduling conflict, according to Kidd.

Bruce Barsook, the district's attorney, said CVUSD responded to the letter in mid-February.

"The answer denies the district violated the law," Barsook said. "I spoke with Sutton-Wills and we discussed trying to resolve the matter. We decided it would be better if district administration and the local association tried to talk amongst themselves (at an informal meeting)."

Dunn said this "horse died two and a half years ago."

"I exercised my First Amendment rights," Dunn said. "This is what an elected representative is supposed to do in a democracy. What a waste of teachers union dues for union thug Arleigh Kidd to waste money attacking me."

If progress isn't made at an informal conference--on a date to be set in the next week or so--the issue moves on to a formal hearing in front of an administrative judge.

Even though the letter was sent to their attorney on Jan. 28, Kidd said, the union just learned about the decision March 17. He said they're "disappointed" their attorney took so long to spread the news, but this isn't an attempt to deflect attention from school closures, which Dunn has claimed.

"It's not right to lie," Kidd said. "In terms of the timing, there is no connection at all," Kidd said, adding that they hope to settle it informally.

"We'd like Mr. Dunn to say, 'I broke the law,' and we'd like to find out from the district what steps they're going to take to make sure it won't happen again," Kidd said. "I don't think we are asking for much."