BRISTOL — Faculty in the Addison Northeast Supervisory Union “overwhelmingly voted” on Monday evening that they have no confidence in Superintendent David Adams, the teachers union said in a statement.
“As the men and women who teach the communities’ children, we all strive to create an atmosphere that allows our students to learn and thrive,” said Lincoln Community School teacher Mikaela Frank in the statement. “It is vitally important that everyone — from support professionals to administrators — share that goal.”
Frank is president of the ANeSU teachers union, called the Addison Northeast Education Association. The union also said it plans to release the results of a workplace climate survey of teachers at the ANeSU board meeting tonight (Tuesday) at 7 p.m. at the Lincoln Community School.
Darren Allen, spokesman for the Vermont branch of the National Education Association, told the Independent Tuesday that it is not common for faculties to take votes of no-confidence in supervisory union leaders. He said the situation teachers face in the Addison Northeast is the “most difficult in the state.”
Allen declined to provide the Independent with a copy of the climate survey, and said the teachers wanted to hand-deliver it to the ANeSU board and administrators at the meeting. At that point the survey results will be made public. Frank did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment.
Allen said the timing of the no-confidence vote was unrelated to the ongoing negotiations for a new teacher contract. The teachers’ current collective bargaining agreement ends June 30. The Vermont NEA took to Twitter Tuesday afternoon to report that the result of the no-confidence vote was 163 to 1.
Unrelated to the teachers’ plight, a group of residents at tonight’s meeting plan to submit a petition asking for the firing of Adams. An online version of the petition bears the signatures of 203 people, from both inside and outside the five-town area. Koran Cousino, who helped circulate the petition, said paper versions posted at locations throughout the area bring the tally much higher.