Public Employee Press

Local 372 saves member’s job

Parent Coordinator and Local 372 member Craig Frierson had 13 years of exemplary service in the school system before he was terminated on June 30, 2004.

A parent at P.S. 194M accused Frierson of grabbing her son by the arm and causing a bruise. Frierson had reprimanded the boy for playing in a parking lot next to the school’s playground during lunchtime and later admitted to grabbing the child’s arm when he walked away as the PC was talking to him.

The parent complained to the principal, who terminated Frierson.

DC 37 Schools Division Rep Dana Tilghman challenged the dismissal with a grievance, and the DC 37 Legal Dept. pushed the case up to Step 4, an arbitration panel with a union representative (Jose Alamo of the DC 37 Research and Negotiations Dept.), a management representative and an impartial arbitrator as chair.

The union position was presented by Local 372 attorney Mitchel B. Craner, who maintained that the inexperienced principal had been negligent. The principal failed to refer the student to the school nurse for an examination of the bruise and to find whether in fact the bruise was the result of Fierson grabbing the student.

The union also suggested that school records should have been consulted for any earlier indications of child abuse.

The principal also neglected to seek witnesses and instead blindly accepted the parent’s version. Overall, the union characterized the principal’s investigation as slipshod, inept and incomplete.

The arbitrator agreed with the union and on April 23 called for the Dept. of Education to reinstate Craig Fierson with full back pay and benefits.