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DETROIT
JEWISH NEWS

3/13

1998

111

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Hiders board and teachers may hire their own consultants.

JULIE WIENER
Staff Writer

all it dueling letters.
At loggerheads since
January, when the Hillel
Day School board voted to
dismiss longtime teacher and former
union President Shula Fleischer, the
board and Hillel teachers — whose
contract expires in August — are now
quarreling over selection of an inde-
pendent consultant.
Within the past two weeks, Hillel's
Executive Committee and the Hillel
Day School Teachers' Association
have sent out separate letters to par-
ents outlining plans for conducting a
review of the school.
The teachers are calling for "an
overall climate and environment
review." The board wants a
consultant to "review and
examine the myriad of
issues that we face in order
to develop a long range
plan."
The consultant debate
began in January when,
after Fleischer's termina-
tion, the teachers' union
sent a letter to Hillel board
members and Hillel parents
requesting that the board,
working together with the
teachers, bring in an inde-
pendent committee to
study the issue of teacher
morale. The letter also
requested a board response
within a week.
While it remained in
contact with teachers'
union leadership about the request,
Hillel's board did not respond pub-
licly about review plans until late
February, when it mailed out a letter
to parents that makes no mention of
the teachers' request. The letter states
that board members Lisa Weiner and
Rich Grossman have been appointed
to co-chair a committee to hire the
consultant and that President Steven
Margolin will "appoint additional
representation to this committee
from the teachers, administration,
executive committee and the parent
body."
Hillel administrators assert that

C

new union President Malka Littman
and several other teachers were
included in discussions that preceded
the letter and that they were assured
their needs would be addressed.
"I told Malka [Littman] that the
process is going to be fair or it won't
be done," said Margolin. "The only
way this process can work is if teach-
ers, parents, the board and adminis-
tration work hand in hand. I was
under the impression that [the teach-
ers' union] was delighted with the
plan."
But the teachers' union sent out its
own letter on March 3.
"They're talking about apples and
we're talking about oranges," said
Littman. "A long-range plan is neces-
sary, but our needs are different.
We're asking parents to go back to

ers' March 3 letter has been drafted
but has not yet been made public. In
addition, Margolin said he hopes to
meet with teachers next week to dis-
cuss the matter.
Although several parents declined
to comment about the situation, oth-
ers said they wish the teachers and
board were handling matters differ-
ently.
"It's certainly sad that the profes-
sional staff of an outstanding Jewish
educational institution and its
administration and the board some-
how are not able to work together
very well," said Larry Horwitz,
adding that the conflict "does not
seem to be a good portent for the
necessary collective bargaining
arrangements that must occur in the
next few months." Contract negotia-

Above: Hillel Day School.

Left: Shula Fleischer: Teachers and board have been
at odds since her dismissal.

the original plan and join us, the
teachers, to bring in a consultant."
The teachers' letter says Hillel
needs to address the relationship
between school leadership and teach-
ers and the "policies and procedures
which are carried out and impact all
of us." It urges parents to serve on a
five-person search committee, mem-
bers of which will be selected in a
"draw of those who mail back the
enclosed application by March 18."
Littman said the union still hopes
to cooperate with the board, but is
also prepared to act without it. A
board letter in response to the teach-

tions are scheduled to begin next
month.
"It's confusing and wasteful of
resources," said one mother, who
asked that her name not be used.
"Maybe they should try to call a
meeting for all, rather than sending
separate letters."
Fleischer's dismissal will be chal-
lenged before arbitrator Irwin
Ellman, who was selected by Hillel
attorney Bob Finkel and Fleischer's
attorney Mark Cousens. A date for
the arbitration has not been set. 111

