Maxine Mosley, the vice-president of the Manchester Education Association, was seen grocery shopping at BJ’s Wholesale Club in Manchester on Friday May 15, 2020…at 10:15 in the morning.
Texts with Goldhardt. Click image to enlarge.
I was shopping to kill time while tires were being put on my truck. She said “hi” to me as I was about to head down the aisle with the dental care items. Within the minute it took me to realize it was a school day (I normally shop on Saturday), she was at the other end of the store and out the door. Curious about whether or not it really was a school day, I sent Superintendent Dr. John Goldhardt a text. He confirmed that it was.
Email 1: Click image to enlarge
Later that day, I sent an email to Dr. Goldhardt asking the following questions:
- What will be done to address her shopping during school hours?
- Is there a policy or other directive that requires faculty to be engaged in their duties or otherwise actively working on district/student affairs?
- How is the district monitoring staff to ensure they’re doing the work they’re paid to do?
- How many sick, sick bank, personal, bereavement or other paid days off have been used by teachers, principals and paraprofessionals since remote learning began?
Email 2: Click image to enlarge.
Goldhardt’s response?
Rich,
I will answer #1, and then follow my own protocol that I have asked others to follow with media inquiries, and have our Communications Director respond to the others. I have forwarded him your questions. His name is Andrew Toland. Hope all is well with you Rich.
- The first step will be with the employee’s direct supervisor. In this case, it is Bill Krantz. As you know, we cannot share personnel actions.
Toland, who was endorsed by the Manchester Education Association during last year’s election (he ran and lost in Ward 12 against incumbent Kelly Thomas) has yet to respond. Goldhardt did not respond to a subsequent email requesting his comment on Mosley’s school time shopping trip, nor has he responded to an email sent yesterday advising that Toland had yet to respond and that publication of this article was imminent and would be published without the requested information if need be.
Commentary
Vargas: Brought chronic teacher absenteeism to the forefront.
I decided to expose Mosley’s school day shopping trip because teacher absenteeism has run rampant in the Manchester School District for some time. It was an issue that Superintendent Dr. Bolgen Vargas expressed grave concern with, as did the last Board of School Committee. While Goldhardt has expressed similar concern over the chronic absenteeism that plagues the district, depriving thousands of students of quality instruction, he, and the current board, surrendered the proposals made by the Special Committee on Negotiations in the last term that would have restructured how sick and personal time (and ONLY sick and personal time) were used.
The loudest opponent to those proposals, who also happened to be the loudest denier of the data showing the problem, was none other than Maxine Mosley. Not only did she argue there wasn’t a problem, she asserted that to the degree that one existed, the district should “enforce” its way out of it, while admitting that any action taken by the district against a teacher abusing sick time would likely be “grieved” by the union. She also knows the “enforcement mechanism” in the contract is absolutely useless.
Goldhardt: Needs to send a very serious message.
This kind of thing isn’t an isolated incident, either. Because I was a school board member at the time, I cannot share specific details of what I’m about to divulge. That said, not that long ago, there was an elementary school principal caught organizing a Christmas shopping trip with members of the teaching staff in their school. In total, there were nearly twenty teachers in this building who were going to take a sick or personal day to go Christmas shopping on a school day. That would require the district to find almost twenty substitute teachers during a time when complaints were rampant about a well known lack of substitutes and the combining of classes where substitutes couldn’t be found.
Ironically, Mosley and the MEA will play a key role under the new contract that was just approved. They will be “messaging” the importance of being in school when not sick. Really? Nothing says “credible” like “do as I say and not as I do.” You just can’t make this stuff up!
How will it respond, if at all?
Goldhardt needs to send a message that such behavior won’t be tolerated, else it will continue unabated. The answers to the questions posed in my original email are pertinent, now more than ever. The students, parents, taxpayers and dedicated teachers who aren’t shopping on school time also deserve to know the answers to these questions and many, many more.
Girard: Someone has to…
Finally, I know I’m going to “catch Hell” for publishing this story from the loudmouths who think I just want to “bash” teachers. The question is, will they, will the teachers, the good ones, will the MEA hold Mosley and those they know are giving them all a bad rap by doing stuff like this, put their collective foot down and say “enough!”?
~Richard H. Girard, Publisher & former Member at-Large of the Manchester Board of School Committee
Generally I don’t respond to your incessant criticism of teachers, but this is just an absurd vendetta. Perhaps she was on her lunch break or prep period. Perhaps she was taking a much needed mental health reprieve from working tirelessly to meet the needs of her students digitally. Did you ask her? No, you passive-aggressively sent a text message to the Superintendent and then wrote a diatribe while pretending that you weren’t sure what day it was. That says more about your integrity than a teacher buying groceries and being at one of the few stores with toilet paper on an untraditional week day. I’m sure it’s not the first time you’ve been scouting for teachers somewhere.
You can tell a lot about how employees are treated by their employers during this time. What is going to be done about the Superintendent using his phone to text during school hours?
How many articles have you written about on duty police officers stopping for coffee or food? Are you going to be sitting in parking lots taking photos of running police cars with officers chatting with one another? Will your next article be about them or are you continuing only to target teachers?
What is the expectation for teachers during this unprecedented time? Are they held to a different standard than anyone else working from home? What’s next, Mr. Girard? Will you be photographing and lambasting children and their families for not being indoors with only a 30 minute break for recess?
Perhaps, during this trying time when mental health is already at a low, you can use your voice to boost morale and focus on some good instead of criticizing and scrutinizing someone with whom you have a tumultuous relationship. Acknowledge the teachers who work well into the night and on weekends for their students, without a contract (at the time and also no thanks to you). Give credit to the teachers who are working while having children of their own at home and balancing work & family. Acknowledge the teachers who reach out to their students daily to make sure they are safe. Write about Manchester teachers being on the forefront of Remote Learning. Make note of the fact that many NH schools have decided to end early but Manchester will be going the full school year. You won’t because that doesn’t fit your narrative of the evil teachers and their Big Bad Teacher’s Union.
Unless your goal is to bully, there’s no need to perpetuate a problem between Manchester citizens and teachers when what we need is to be unified. If you feel you must, show the evidence. Give us the data. Then make note of how poorly teachers have been treated and how frequently they are working without a contract. You could write about the critical sub shortage and abysmal pay. Maybe focus on the special education services that aren’t being received or the surge of people leaving the school district at the administrative level. Why has Manchester gone through so many superintendents in such a short time?
Mr. Girard, during this time I strongly encourage you to find something better to do with your time than to bully a group of workers who are more essential than ever. If that isn’t of interest to you, I implore you to reach out to the educator who wounded your fragile ego all those years ago and get some closure. It’s time to move on.
Dear Frank.
I would have asked, but she left about as quickly as Houdini disappears.
I checked with the superintendent to make sure school was in session. Could have been a day off for some reason.
I wasn’t scouting for teachers. I was shopping while new tires were being put on my truck.
If you’d followed me at all, you’d know that I have repeatedly brought the behavior of officers on extra detail to the attention of both the police department and the public. Made for some great radio with Chief Willard.
The superintendent was replying to a text about a school matter during school hours. I don’t see the issue.
My expectation of teachers, especially the union VP, is that they do what the contract requires. In this case, it means contacting and working with students during school hours. Not shopping.
As former chairman of the Special Committee on Negotiations, I can only say they could have had a contract a long, long time ago. Every time we addressed an issue they raised, they moved the goal posts. Sad part is, if they’d accepted our original offer, the teachers would have received much better compensation than they ultimately received and it would not have required the use of one time money that, in my opinion, is likely to lead to layoffs.
The average tenure of a superintendent in an urban district is about 3 years. We are on par with that average.
We don’t have a sub shortage, we have an enormous problem with chronic absenteeism, something our negotiating team worked very hard to address in the face of opposition led by Ms. Mosley. More than 12,000 sick and personal days used by a staff of 1,100 people on a 175 day work year. Think about that.
Revealing people’s behavior isn’t bullying. It’s reporting. Thank you for your comments.
Well said Rich. Frank is a tool.
The only way to achieve happiness is to cherish what you have and forget what you don’t have