Teacher: No Confidence Vote in Superintendent

MEDIA RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION JUNE 25, 2013

WYNANTSKILL TEACHERS ASSOCIATION

WYNANTSKILL TEACHERS VOTE NO CONFIDENCE IN SUPERINTENDENT

Over the past year and half, the Wynantskill Teacher’s Association welcomed our superintendent with open arms. In that time, Dr. Lisa Henkel has routinely undermined her staff and refused to accept suggestions while not acknowledging her own mistakes. The low morale of the faculty derives from the loss of faith in her leadership & the distrust that grows when not being treated fairly in the workplace. Most importantly, however, is the fact that this type of educational environment negatively impacts our students. Dr. Lisa Henkel has failed to effectively meet her educational obligations and has made administrative decisions that our unit perceives to be unnecessary, or unsafe. This has shown itself to be the case time and time again since January of 2012. The children are innocent pawns in the deceitful game that Superintendent Henkel is playing with the faculty, parents, community & Board of Education. In good conscience, we can no longer allow this to go on. It is for these reasons that the Wynantskill Teachers Association prepared the following resolution:

RESOLUTION OF NO CONFIDENCE

Approved: June 20, 2013

The members of the Wynantskill Teachers Association had great hope that Dr. Lisa Henkel would be an inspiring, educational leader. We welcomed her gladly giving large amounts of time and effort to embrace her vision. Sadly, after a year and a half of working with this Superintendent we are unable to support her incumbency.

The welfare of the children, their families and our members is our priority. Thus, by a secret ballot vote of the tenured staff regarding this resolution in which 28 voted for and 1 against, we are compelled to notify the Wynantskill Union Free School District Board of Education of this result and the cause of this severe action as stated in the following:

Whereas: The members of the Wynantskill Teachers Association dearly love the Wynantskill community, and;

Whereas: Dr. Lisa Henkel has created an environment that does not support student learning and is hostile to the people working to teach the children, and;

Whereas: Dr. Lisa Henkel has destroyed collegiality and morale amongst the staff, and;

Whereas: Dr. Lisa Henkel has demonstrated a lack of leadership and has presented a bad example in regard to attendance and the knowledge of school rules, procedures and program, and;

Whereas: Dr. Lisa Henkel has used behavior that is not acceptable, such as bullying, intimidation and retaliation, when managing the staff, and;

Whereas: Dr. Lisa Henkel has shown a lack of courtesy and respect for staff members and has failed to acknowledge their generous donation of time to the school at the expense of their own time and that of their families, and;

Whereas: Dr. Lisa Henkel has inappropriately attempted to interfere with both staff members and parents attempting to access the Board of Education, and;

Whereas: Dr. Lisa Henkel has not upheld the law and regulations by failing to meet the requirements of students by not fully implementing their IEPs, remedial services and RTI, and;

Whereas: Dr. Lisa Henkel has not engaged the students and has no meaningful relationship with them, and;

Whereas: Dr. Lisa Henkel delegates her administrative duties to others avoiding decision making and accountability, and;

Whereas: Dr. Lisa Henkel is reactionary and defensive in regard to errors of judgment and is incapable of assuming ownership of her mistakes, and;

Whereas: Dr. Lisa Henkel makes uninformed and inappropriate recommendations to guide families and their needs, and;

Whereas: Dr. Lisa Henkel appears to be incapable of performing the basic administrative function of developing a daily master schedule for the school, and;

Whereas: Dr. Lisa Henkel lacks a rudimentary understanding of how the school functions on a daily basis nor shows and disregards staff recommendations for adherence to Federal and State mandates, and;

Whereas: Dr. Lisa Henkel has been inconsistent in the evaluation of teachers and supports teachers of her liking much more than those not in her favor, and;

Whereas: Dr. Lisa Henkel has been a serious impediment to the negotiation of a successor agreement of the member's contract, and;

Therefore BE IT RESOLVED: THE MEMBERS OF THE WYNANTSKILL TEACHERS ASSOCIATION DO SO DECLARE THAT WE HAVE NO CONFIDENCE IN DR. LISA HENKEL AS OUR SUPERINTENDENT AND REQUEST, FOR THE SAKE OF OUR CHILDREN, PARENTS, TAXPAYERS AND COLLEAGUES, THAT THE WYNANTSKILL UFSD BOARD OF EDUCATION TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION TO END HER EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP WITH THE WYNANTSKILL UNION FREE SCHOOL DISTRICT COMMUNITY.

Wynantskill Teachers Association Contact:

Matt Lutz, President

518-429-6548

ml274222@hotmail.com