News
Speaking the Truth, Battling Consequences

When her school district retaliated after Louise Kolb backed a parent, Kolb fought back and won.

Louise Kolb, center, survived her seven-year ordeal with the support of husband David, left, and her children Charles and Alice.

New Jersey third grade teacher Louise Kolb isn't one to boast about her classroom technique. When pressed, she'll concede, at best: "I do a pretty good job--I take each child as an individual, meet his or her needs as best I can, and bring the best out of each."

This 27-year veteran, who teaches at Mansfield Elementary in rural Warren County, likes to communicate regularly with parents. "After all," says this mother of two, "parents want to know what's going on in their children's classrooms."

All in all, Kolb is a typical elementary teacher. She thrives around kids and, role model that she is, puts a premium on telling the truth.

And the truth is Kolb couldn't work effectively with a special needs child back in September 1993, even with two periods of daily help from a special education teacher. This eight-year-old boy lived with severe Tourette's Syndrome and other disabilities.

"He really had a difficult time functioning in the classroom," Kolb recalls. "His mother always felt that he needed more than our school could provide, and she was right."

The mother went to a state administrative law court to win placement of her child in a specialized school outside the Mansfield Township district.

To Kolb's surprise, the plaintiff and her lawyer appeared one day at school to serve her with a subpoena to testify in this case.

Kolb felt strongly that there was only one version of the facts, so she declined to "prepare" her court testimony with school board attorney David Wallace and Superinten-dent Carol Burns.

"That means you're the mother's star witness," snapped the lawyer. "We are now adversaries."

During four separate court hearings in 1994, Wallace grilled Kolb on the witness stand for an entire day. Her evidence, including a daily log of the child's progress and his collected classwork, was helpful but not decisive to the outcome of the case.

In June 1994, before the administrative law judge issued a decision, Kolb had a formal evaluation conference with Burns and received a satisfactory rating, a green light to receive a normal pay increment. "I was told I worked well with the school's Child Study Team, and nothing was said about my court appearance," Kolb notes.

But when the judge ruled that the child should be transferred at the district's expense to a special school, this teacher got a rude shock.

At the beginning of the 1994-95 school year, the district withheld her increment, falsely charging that Kolb disobeyed orders on conferencing with the mother and failed to communicate about the child's condition with the Child Study Team.

Mike Mulkeen, the UniServ rep who advised and supported to Kolb every step of the way, calls this disciplinary action "retaliation," pure and simple. "I thought the district would back down on Louise when they lost the student's case," says Mulkeen, now retired. "But they were so arrogant, they took it to the end. This was about doing her in."

Not about to let that happen, Mulkeen teamed up with New Jersey Education Association attorney Nancy Oxfeld to fight a two-front battle to win back Kolb's stolen increment and clear her good name.

These advocates filed a grievance on behalf of the Mansfield Education Association, and they helped Kolb file a lawsuit under New Jersey's Conscientious Employee Protection Act. That law prohibits employers from retaliating against employees for providing information to a public body "conducting an investigation, hearing, or inquiry" into any employer violation of a law, administrative rule, or regulation.

Bit by bit, the union's two-pronged strategy paid off.

In late 1999, NJEA won the arbitration case despite three last-ditch employer appeals of the arbitrator's award. And Kolb was awarded five years of back increments, albeit without interest.

In early 2000, Kolb's lawsuit made its way to New Jersey Superior Court, where a jury decided on its own to award the plaintiff $50,000 from the Mansfield Township school board and $5,000 from Superintendent Burns.

"It's unheard of to fine a superintendent," notes UniServ rep Mulkeen. "But the jury found her to be negligent. Carol Burns knew what kind of teacher Louise was, but she kept silent."

Louise Kolb hadn't envisioned dollar signs when she entered that courtroom.

"This was never a money issue," says Kolb. "I was told I did something wrong and I never did, and I always admit when I'm wrong. I felt I was used as a scapegoat, I wanted my name cleared, and I wanted a jury to hear all this and decide."

"Louise is the quintessential elementary teacher," observes Mulkeen. "She just wanted somebody to say she was right after five years of hassle and grief. She was fighting for a child, not looking to embarrass the administration."

Now that the dust has settled, Kolb explains what motivated her.

"I was worried that this child wouldn't get help in later grades, so I did what had to be done," she says. "Children shouldn't just be passed through the system--I never looked at a child that way."

Kolb's greater reward has come with the knowledge that the student, who spent three years in a school specializing in Tourette's Syndrome, has transitioned back to the mainstream. Now in the 10th grade, he takes algebra, plays in a school band, and can participate more fully in school activities.

"His mother knew that he could grow up to be a functioning member of society, and he surely did," says Kolb.

And what kept this educator functioning during seven years of grief?

Kolb credits her husband, David, also a teacher at Mansfield Elementary, and her children for their "unrelenting support," and stresses that "Mike Mulkeen and Nancy Oxfeld were my guardian angels throughout this whole thing--they stood behind me 100 percent."

Though Kolb has been a longtime NEA member, she never was what people would consider an "activist." Now, she's fully aware that NEA stands up for all members, including the "average" member.

Mindful that "fear of retribution" sometimes prevents teachers from fighting for students who can't speak for themselves, Kolb has sound advice for every NEA member:

"If you get in this situation, call your UniServ rep. He or she is in the position to guide, support, and help the average member.

"After all," says Kolb, "that's why we pay Association dues."

--Dave Winans, with New Jersey Education
Association editor Dawn Hiltner

For more information, contact NJEA UniServ Assistant Director Carol Rosenfeld at crosenfeld@njea.org.

The Courts Have Spoken. . .

. . . In Georgia, a Federal District Court jury has awarded $300,000 to the Walton County Bus Drivers Association and its co-presidents, Cynthia White and Faye Ramey, for retaliation suffered after the local raised employee concerns at school board meetings. White and Ramey lost their jobs in 1996 after they attempted to notify management of student discipline problems on buses and serious vehicle safety concerns--including use of forklifts rather than racks to lift buses, soft brakes, slipping transmissions, and missing first-aid kits.

"This ruling should be an emphatic wake-up call to school districts throughout the state that they can't prevent local Associations from speaking out," says Terrence Thomas, co-general counsel of the Georgia Association of Educators. "Nor can they prevent one person from representing the Association in matters that concern the school system."

. . . In Maine, the state Supreme Court has upheld an arbitration award reinstating fired teacher Tim Barlow and compensating him for $25,000 in lost pay and benefits. Barlow was dismissed without just cause by the Lamoine school board for allegedly "mishandling" a disruptive student in the lunchroom.

Maine Education Association UniServ Director Brian Kilroy says that Barlow's case brings out the importance of clean "just cause" language and binding arbitration in contracts. "Without these protections," he says, "Tim Barlow would not have been vindicated and restored to his job."