President-elect of Holyoke teachers union laid off, claims retaliation for criticizing educational reform; protest planned for school committee meeting
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| Agustin Morales, a teacher whose contract was not renewed at Maurice A. Donahue School in Holyoke. (Submitted photo) |
HOLYOKE -- Minutes before Agustin Morales, an English teacher at Maurice A. Donahue School, was to head home for the evening, the school principal asked to speak with him and a knot formed in the pit of his stomach.
In her office, Donahue Principal Amy Fitzgerald handed Morales a letter, dated June 13, regarding his employment with the school: his contract was not renewed for the upcoming school year.
In the first three years of employment, school administrators can decide not to rehire a teacher who they feel is doing a poor job.
Morales said his contract was not renewed in retaliation for criticizing educational reform — including testing, data walls and administrative changes — in Holyoke Public Schools.
"I wasn't surprised when I received the letter. I spoke out. I knew the risk," Morales said in an interview on Thursday. "I'd just hoped we could act like adults and have a civil discourse."
Morales had been employed as a teacher at Donahue since 2011. On May 8, he was named president-elect of the teacher’s union after campaigning against education reform efforts.
"It's retaliation," he said. "An elected union leader should be able to speak freely on behalf of students and teachers."
When asked about Morales' employment contract, School Superintendent Sergio Paez said Thursday, "It's a private matter between an employee and the School Department."
Fifteen to 20 positions will be cut through job mergers, attrition and layoffs to help close a budget gap for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Some of those involve teachers who lacked professional teacher status, a kind of tenure for Massachusetts public school teachers reached upon a teacher working three straight years in a school district.
Paez declined to say whether Morales would be let go because he lacked professional teacher status.
"It's retaliation," Morales said. "An elected union leader should be able to speak freely on behalf of students and teachers.
Calls and an email to Principal Fitzgerald for comment were not returned.