By LESTER CHANG
Claiming Fremont board member Andrew Springmeyer harassed and humiliated her during recent teacher contract meetings, district lead negotiator Bebe Sellers said she will file a discrimination complaint against him with the federal Department of Fair Employment and Housing.
Sellers said Springmeyer has disliked the way she has handled the negotiations with the Fremont Education Association and that he harassed her during three closed board meetings on Aug. 28, Sept. 3 and Sept. 17 because she is a "minority female over 40 years of age."
Springmeyer dismissed the charge, saying the accusation is "insidious and groundless."
"She thinks I am harassing her?" Springmeyer said. "Why would she think it is any less for me when she is making such charges, which are totally without foundation?"
Springmeyer also criticized board member Nancy Newton for advising Sellers on how to go about filing the complaint.
Sellers' charges were outlined in a Sept. 19 letter to Fremont Union High School District Superintendent Mary Panucci. In the letter, Sellers stated Newton suggested she follow the guidelines in a board policy governing an investigation into complaints against district employees.
By helping Sellers, Springmeyer said, Newton violated the code of ethics governing the actions of school district trustees. The letter said Sellers would discuss her complaints with the employment department on Oct. 22.
When contacted, Sellers declined to comment on the letter's contents. Neither Panucci nor Newton were available for comment at press time.
In her letter, Sellers stated that Springmeyer attacked her at a closed board meeting on Sept. 17, accusing her, among other things, of not prioritizing the board's negotiation interests, misleading the board on what has happened during negotiations and representing the negotiating team's interests rather than the board's interests.
Springmeyer said in a later interview that the board informed its negotiators that settling the question of salaries was its No. 1 goal, "yet there has been no negotiation on that matter."
Springmeyer said district negotiators have been operating without fully informing the board of their actions, and because of the lack of clear information from district negotiators, the board now finds itself in an impasse in the talks.
"I don't recall the board ever discussing the combining of classes as being part of the contract proposal, and yet it is on the negotiating table," he added.
The district is proposing to combine classes without getting prior approval from teachers, parents or students, he explained.
Sellers' letter states that at a closed meeting on Sept. 3, Springmeyer accused her of failing to negotiate within the parameters set by the board and of responding to him in a callous manner.
Springmeyer said he didn't recall the board asking district negotiators to negotiate a perpetual waiver on the combining of classes, and Sellers wasn't very communicative when he asked more questions about it.
"In fact, she was hostile to me," he said.
Also in the letter, Sellers said Springmeyer accused her at the Aug. 28 board meeting of writing condescending letters to the FEA. Sellers didn't expand on this charge, but she has said in the past she has always been professional in her conduct toward the FEA.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, October 2, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.