Troy school board denies grievance by former employee

A Libby lawyer told the Troy School Board last week that she intends to file lawsuit against them regarding the non-renewal of former employee.

The Troy School Board held two special meetings last week at the Troy High School library, concerning Danita Jordan’s appeal of a grievance for the non-renewal of her contract for the 2016-2017 school year. After the second meeting was over, Jordan’s lawyer, Ann German announced she would proceed with legal action against the Troy School Board.

Danita Jordan worked as a paraprofessional for Troy High School for eight years. District superintendent and high school principal Dr. Jacob Francom said that on June 10, Francom gave Jordan a letter, notifying her of her non-renewal. Jordan then filed her original grievance on June 23. On June 27, Francom gave the school board a list of classified hires for the upcoming school year to the board. Jordan’s name was not on that list, and Jordan’s contract was not renewed.

The reason for non-renewal has not been disclosed. According to Francom, classified staff are not given a reason for legal purposes and for employees’ benefit. If the administration gave cause, such as an error the employee made, the administration would have to prove that error. They also do not give the reason, because as Francom said, “to not drag the employee through the mud.”

After obtaining a lawyer, Jordan appealed the denial of the original grievance sent to the administration on June 23, 13 days after her dismissal.

The first meeting began Tuesday with board chairman John Konzen informing the board members, Jordan and her lawyer of the scheduled events. The board was allowed to ask questions at any time and at the end of the meeting, the board was to accept, reject or table the appeal.

According to German, the board did not follow the policy 5250 under Negotiated Agreement between the Board of Trustees of the district and the Troy Classified School Employee Association which states:

“The Board, after receiving the recommendations of the superintendent, will determine the non-renewal or termination of classified staff, in conformity with state statutes and applicable District policy.”

“I want this to be really clear to the board, we’re not asking the board tonight to approve or deny [Francom’s] recommendation,” German said. “We’re asking the board to make a finding that the non-renewal dating June 10 has no legal or proper effect or authority on Ms. Jordan’s employment.”

According to German, the board went against policy 5250 by implying non-renewal by omitting Jordan’s name from the list of renewals.

Jordan also handed out letters written by her coworkers prior to the meeting. Jordan claimed that those staff members would have been OK with her using those letters at the Tuesday meeting. Board members expressed concerns because some of the letters were letters of recommendation for Jordan’s potential, future jobs. German said that the board members could throw out the letters if they didn’t like them.

According to a school board member on Friday, two of the staff members said that they never anticipated those letters to be used at the meeting.

After German spoke and Jordan handed out the letters to the board, Francom then responded by going through the sequence of events that occurred.

According to Francom, on June 10 he sent a letter to Jordan notifying her that he would be recommending to the board that her contract not be renewed. On June 27, he received the grievance letter from Jordan dated June 23. Later on June 27, at a board meeting he presented his list of classified hires for the upcoming school year to the board. Jordan’s name was not on that list. Jordan was at the June 27 meeting to address the board concerning her employment. He received her grievance on July 6 and met with her and her husband on July 7, Francom said.

“I listened to her position with an open mind,” Francom said. “I understand what she said and why she believed my recommendation was not fair, however I still believe my hiring recommendations were correct, therefore her grievance was denied.”

After describing the events as they occurred, Francom then referred to board policy 5140, which states that, “Should the employee satisfy the probationary period, such employee shall have no expectation of continued employment beyond the current contract term.”

According to Francom, there is no requirement in the Collective Bargaining Agreement that he provide cause or reason for his recommendation, and since Jordan was not approved for renewal, her employment ended at the end her contract term.

Francom said the administration had handled previous terminations in the same way as Jordan’s and that it is a common practice not just in the Troy School District, but across the state.

In German’s rebuttal, she said that board policy 5250 states the board will make the decision of non-renewal based on the superintendent’s recommendation. She read the letter Francom had sent to Jordan on June 10, which German said had no mention of Francom taking Jordan’s non-renewal to the board. She also said that Jordan received a check from the school that included her termination pay on June 9.

German claimed that Francom intended the letter sent to Jordan on June 10 to be her final termination, which bypassed the board and did not follow the negotiated agreement.

German also said that board policy 5140 is an effort to get around the wrongful discharge statute in Montana, which requires employees on a probationary period to only be terminated for good cause. She pointed out that, while the specific policy 5140 trumps the general wrongful discharge statute, policy 5250 stated that the board will make the decision of non-renewal based on the superintendent’s recommendation, which German claims was not done during the June 27 meeting.

Francom repeated his earlier statement: such non-renewals are the board’s precedent.

After Francom was finished with his rebuttal, Jordan stood up in front of the board and read a pre-written speech. Her speech was not about the appeal of her grievance, but about how she believed the non-renewal of her contract was the wrong decision.

“Mr. Francom has really done a lot of great things for this school,” Jordan began. “He’s made a lot of improvements, but I do believe that, in this case, he’s made a mistake.”

Jordan then spoke about her three children, Gunner, who graduated at the top of his class at Troy High School and recently graduated from massage therapy school, Cheyenne, who just graduated as an honor student and a salutatorian from Troy High School and her youngest, Hunter, who was born without a hand and went to all-star baseball in elementary school and is currently playing football. Jordan said that she took the same attitude she had raising her children and applied that to her job at Troy High School.

“I am not here for the recognition, I’m not here for awards, for the great money we make as a paraprofessional. I’m here for the kids,” Jordan said.

During the meeting, Francom made a statement regarding the concerns the public had regarding his joint positions as superintendent and principal for Troy High School.

“I never asked for that, I didn't want it,” he said. "I turned each board member down three and four times because I didn't want to do it. I prefer being principal. Most people that say that I wanted to have it and I wanted to do it, absolutely not. I was finishing a doctorate degree. I was plenty happy doing what I was doing. I'm glad that we've been able to take the district where we have."

The day after the Tuesday meeting, Danita Jordan said to The Western News, “I would say I feel good about how it went, but I wish Mr. Francom had never started this to begin with. I just wish that he would have had a conversation with me.”

The Thursday board meeting lasted only nine minutes, in which German made her final statement, reiterating that what the school board had done went against policy 5250.

Konzen, the board chairman, then allowed the public to comment. Larry Warren and Wayne Anderson stood up to speak in favor of Jordan.

After the board adjourned the school board meeting on Thursday, German announced to everyone present that she intends to file a lawsuit.

“Danita does not want to pursue arbitration, the district can’t afford it, the association can’t afford it,” German said. “Since my legal fees are relatively inexpensive, as in $0 at this point, we are going to proceed with a legal action to ask a court whether or not what was done here tonight is legal.”

On Friday, Francom issued a statement, “We’re working as hard as we can and as best as we can to make the district as best as it can be. People can’t see the inner workings of the school system.” Francom said. “My door is open anytime to clarify some of these things.”

With regards to public concerns of the amount of non-renewals and dismissals in the district, Francom said, “Most of the non-renewals have been for personal reasons.” According to Francom, the district has 80 employees in total, from classified to certified, and last year, the district has a turnover of seven staff. While the Troy School District was hiring seven employees, Thompson Falls, a district of similar size was hiring 12, Francom said. Francom said that the former superintendent told him that those numbers are relatively normal.

An earlier version of this contained a misquote by Dr. Jacob Francom. The quote has been updated and a correction will be published in Friday's edition of The Western News.