United Federation of Teachers
Edward R.Murrow High School Chapter
1600 Avenue L
Brooklyn, New York 11230
Mr. Joseph Lo Schiavo
DIRECTOR
Related Staff Services
110 Livingston Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Article 24 Conciliation
Case # 31-94
May 3, 1995
Dear Mr. Lo Schiavo:
In a letter of October 28, 1994, I as UFT Chapter Leader at Edward R. Murrow
High made a formal request to Mr. Frank Volpicella, UFT District Representative,
for an Article 24 Conciliation on behalf of the teachers at Edward R. Murrow
High School.
A formal request for conciliation was made by the United Federation of Teachers
on November 3, 1994.
The "Issue to be Conciliated" was described in the document submitted
by the UFT. Both parties involved, Mr Saul Bruckner, Principal and Dr. David
K. Roemer agreed to enter the conciliation process.
As the Board Conciliator, you presented the pertinent information to Ms.
Joyce Coppin, Brooklyn High School Superintendent, in a letter and attachments
dated December 2, 1994.
On January 5, 1995, Ms. Coppin "held a conciliation hearing" and
a written:report of that hearing was issued on February
3, 1995.
As Mrs. Coppin was unable to get the parties to agree, a Conciliator (Mr.
Harold Matthes) was assigned to the case. Some time afterwards, Mr. Matthes
convened a meeting with Messrs. Bruckner and Roemer in an attempt to reach
a resolution. Neither Mr. Bruckner nor Dr. Roemer agree that a resolution
was reached at that meeting. (It appears that the letter written by Ms.
Coppin as a result of her "conciliation hearing" may have presented
a problem at the conciliation held by Mr. Matthes).
In any case, to my knowledge neither Mr. Bruckner nor Dr. Roemer has received
a response from Mr. Matthes. Article 24 A 3 and 4 states that "this
stage of the process is expected to be completed within a month unless the
participants, including the Conciliator, believe it beneficial to continue
the process." Article 24 goes on to state that "if a resolution
is reached, the Conciliator will prepare an agreement..." or "if
there is no resolution, the Conciliator will send letters to parties confirming
termination of the conciliation process..."
It is my understanding that no letters have
been sent by Mr. Matthes to the parties involved. Therefore, at this time
we do not know the status of the conciliation process. One would assume
that since no letters of conclusion (one way or the other) have been received
regarding this conciliation, the process has not been concluded.
We look forward to hearing from you in this regard.
Very truly yours,
William Forster
UFT Chapter Leader
Edward R. Murrow High School