Norwalk BoE, administrators’ union, seek ‘agreement’ on allegation of unfair labor practice

NORWALK, Conn. — A grievance filed by a Norwalk Special Education administrator did not prompt a hearing Thursday, as had been planned.

The Board of Education Negotiations and Personnel Committee cancelled its hearing on Sara Legister’s grievance at the request of the Norwalk Association of School Administrators (NASA), Committee Chairman Mike Lyons said Thursday afternoon.

Lyons said he couldn’t elaborate.

“We are trying to come to an agreement that is fair to Sara,” NASA Vice President Tony Ditrio said in an email, declining further comment.

Legister was suspended for 10 days without pay after being accused in July of costing the district more than $74,000 during the 2016-17 school year, when she authorized the outplacement of a SpEd student allegedly without convening the appropriate multidisciplinary team. Legister and NASA filed a grievance, alleging unfair labor practices.

Ditrio said last week that Legister has been targeted, part of Norwalk Superintendent of Schools Steven Adamowski’s effort to fulfill a promise he made to then-Board Chairman Lyons when he was interviewing  in 2015 for his post leading Norwalk Public Schools.

“(Adamowski) was here three weeks when they went after her. What could he know about her in three weeks?” Ditrio said.

“I won’t comment on the Legister matter because it is still before the Board,” Lyons said last week in an email. “I readily admit, however, that fixing Special Education has been a priority of Dr. Adamowski and the Board, and fixing something that was as broken as Norwalk SPED (for 20 years, according to Tony himself!) would likely involve personnel changes.”

Ditrio on Wednesday called the planned hearing “just a necessary step before arbitration.” NASA didn’t “have a lot of faith that the trio {Board members Mike Barbis, Bryan Meek and Lyons} will even listen to our side,” he wrote. Last week, he said the Board “cuts and pastes whatever Adamowski wants.”

A group of parents had planned to attend the hearing, even though they knew they it would be closed to the public. They planned to stand in the hall in support of Legister, they said.

The group, led by Kim Tromba, Sophia Aponte and Margaret Kozlark, wrote to Adamowski and Chief of Specialized Learning and Student Services Yvette Goorevitch on Wednesday, calling the allegations about Legister “egregious and misdirected.”

“Sara Legister is a professional, hardworking, and detail oriented SPED NPS Case Manager,” they wrote. “Even with a tremendous work load, she has always been an effective case manager and caring member of my child’s ppt. She comes prepared and follows through on important details in my child’s IEP…. We believe Sara has done an honorable job especially with little direction from the revolving administration for the past several years.”

Norwalk has another union nicknamed NASA; the Norwalk Assistants and Supervisors Association is a separate organization and is not involved in this dispute.