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of the learning standards. Warning also tried to compare herself to
other teachers, asserting that she had spoken to other teachers at the
school and, in her opinion, they were not using the learning standards
she was now being required to implement. When this happened,
Principal Runyan complained that the remediation process was
becoming much too cumbersome and that Beth should not be present
at future meetings. Runyan believed that with Beth present the focus
remained on the evaluation procedure and general standards,
preventing them from working on Warning’s personal corrective
action plan. Principal Runyan told Warning that he just wanted her to
complete the corrective action tasks that he had assigned her.
Sometime after the March 4, 2005, meeting, Principal Runyan ran
into Warning in the hall. He asked to meet with her briefly and
Warning agreed and they went to Runyan’s office. There, Principal
Runyan tried to explain to Warning why he was not going to allow
Beth to be a part of the remediation meetings anymore. Warning,
however, said she would refuse to meet without representation and
began to read from her union card. Principal Runyan became upset,
jumped up from his chair and, in a loud voice, said, “I don’t care what
the card says.” Warning responded that she did not have to take this
treatment and walked out of the meeting.
On March 9, 2005, Principal Runyan visited Beth’s classroom and
asked to speak with her. He told Beth that he did not hold anything
against her personally, nor was he against the union, but that he had
discussed the situation with Dr. Pointer, executive director of SPEED,
and they had agreed that union representation was not appropriate at
Warning’s remediation meetings. Beth disagreed and asserted the
position that, because Warning might be subject to dismissal, she had
a right to union representation. Beth admitted that Principal Runyan
acted professionally when speaking with her. He also conceded that,
as a new principal, he was somewhat unfamiliar with the rules
concerning the right to union representation. Nevertheless, he
maintained that union representation in this situation was neither
appropriate nor necessary.
After this meeting, Beth wrote a memo to Principal Runyan, dated
March 17, 2005, asserting the position that Warning was entitled, by
the collective-bargaining agreement and her Weingarten rights, to have
representation of her choice, if she requests it. The next day, March 18,
