An article in the JI today:
HEBRON — The town has settled its labor dispute with former Hebron Elementary School Principal Joanne Collins, paying her $12,000, with Collins agreeing to drop the case.
Under the settlement agreement, Collins will receive $6,000 this month and another $6,000 this summer. A February 2008 reference letter from School Superintendent Eleanor Cruz will be kept in Collins’ official personnel file, the agreement says.
Collins, through the principals’ union Hebron Administrators Association, had challenged the Board of Education through the state labor relations board. She alleged that Cruz used performance reviews to retaliate against her for Collins’ role in union contract negotiations in 2008.
A study released last year on communication within the schools hinted at a power struggle between Collins and Cruz. Neither side would comment on it at the time.
Collins was principal at Hebron Elementary from 2003 to 2009. She resigned in July to take a job as principal at East Haddam Elementary School.
It was an opportunity she couldn’t pass up, and she had been interested in moving closer to the shoreline, she said at the time.
In the labor claim, Collins and the union argued that the town should remove negative evaluations from her file, pay the union’s legal fees, and admit to retaliation. The school board had argued to drop the case because Collins resigned.
The $12,000 payment isn’t compensation for lost wages or an admission of guilt by the school board, the agreement says.
The school board unanimously approved the agreement in a meeting Tuesday. The agreement wasn’t released until Thursday, when it was signed by Kathryn Veronesi, the current union president and principal at Gilead Hill School.
“It’s done, and we’re glad that we’ve been able to close that chapter,” school board Chairwoman Jane Dube said.
Collins declined to comment on the agreement Friday. Part of the agreement bars both sides from making disparaging comments.
It’s unclear how much the town spent defending the labor board claim. The school board spent $35,550 in legal fees between July and December 2009, records show. It’s unclear how much of that was on the case. Similar figures for the time since then were not available.
