07/09/2024
Urgent call to action:
Picket and speak out at the Detroit School Board meeting this Tuesday to defend veteran DPS teacher and EON/BAMN caucus leader Nicole Conaway!
Stop the administration’s illegal harassment and termination!
Grant Ms. Conaway’s ADA accommodation and reinstate her NOW!
Picket the DPSCD Board
Tuesday, July 9 at 4:45PM
East English Village Preparatory Academy
5020 Cadieux
Detroit, MI 48224
***wear a mask to keep safe from COVID-19***
To speak out in-person:
Attend the DPSCD Board meeting at 5:30PM
East English Village Preparatory Academy
5020 Cadieux
Detroit, MI 48224
***wear a mask to keep safe from COVID-19***
To speak out virtually:
Go to https://bit.ly/DPSCDBoardMeetings at 5:30PM and raise your hand in the zoom meeting
Superintendent Vitti’s recommendation that the Board terminate Nicole at their July 9 meeting is the culmination of a years-long campaign of harassment, which began with the administration illegally denying Nicole’s request for accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Every action taken by Vitti’s administration against Nicole has been rubber-stamped by the School Board. Despite a Tenure Commission order to reinstate Nicole after illegally firing her in 2022, and despite a determination from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that the District has violated her ADA rights, Vitti’s administration is moving forward with yet another illegal termination.
Nicole has been targeted by the administration for her role in leading the fight against school reopening in the summer of 2020, and her continued role in fighting for more virtual options for students and teachers during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, Nicole had also established herself as a leader in the fight to win quality public education for Detroit students, most notably in her role of leading the teacher and student mass actions to defeat Lansing’s emergency management policy in 2016. When the administration forced the reopening of District schools in the fall of 2021, Nicole applied for an ADA accommodation to teach remotely from home as part of the staff of the Detroit Virtual School as directed by her doctors, due to her underlying health risks. The administration refused her reasonable accommodation, and in response Nicole filed a lawsuit to assert her ADA rights and began a public campaign of calling for other similarly situated staff to join. By illegally firing Nicole again at Tuesday’s Board meeting, Superintendent Vitti is hoping to undermine her leadership and end the struggle of DPS teachers and students for protections against COVID-19, and equality for staff and students.
We must picket and speak out at the Board meeting to demand that the Board break with their policy of rubber-stamping Vitti’s policies, and order the administration to grant Nicole’s accommodation request and reinstate her immediately!
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