At an autumn school board meeting in East Meadow, a petite high school student nervously steps to the microphone, wringing her hands, waiting for her turn to address the board. She's a civic-minded student. This could qualify as a final project in a Participation in Government class.

The good feeling ends quickly.

Judith Arabian, grievance chairwoman for the East Meadow Teachers Association on Long Island, turns to a colleague and whispers, "That's the girl (Superintendent Robert) Dillon made cry last time."

As the student speaks, she references that meeting and how the questioning by officials made her feel weak and insignificant. Audience members appear to be silently willing her the strength to tell her story.

She doesn't need it. Her head held high, the student urges Dillon and the school board to settle a two-and-a-half-year-old contract dispute with the EMTA and to stop claiming the district lacks the money. She reaches into her pocket and removes a check from her part-time job and places it on a table. She asks that it be given to EMTA's 750 teachers and School-Related Professionals.

The check, totaling $194.26, is being given to a district that closed last year with a $29 million surplus that NYSUT projects will grow to nearly $47 million this school year - a surplus the district is allowed to carry to, among other things, settle contracts.

It's a dramatic scene. The route the young student took to the podium was just as dramatic. She walked from an overflow room past two armed police officers and a muscular security guard. The student identified herself at a barricade designed to keep teachers, SRPs and community members alike out of a small room where the board meets.

EMTA's members are being treated like inmates, forced to submit questions in advance on index cards and herded into a hot, cavernous overflow room where they watch the proceedings on closed-circuit TV. Why? According to Dillon, it is because the members turned their backs on the board at a previous meeting - expressing First Amendment rights at what was billed as a communications session.

If this all seems hostile, you haven't seen anything yet. EMTA and the East Meadow administration have been locked for more than 30 months in an acrimonious contract dispute that has resulted in charges of intimidation, union busting and even criminal activity.

The notion that the administration is trying to paint EMTA members as criminals is no exaggeration. Last year, when the union picketed on a main street in East Meadow, board President Deborah Coates made a criminal complaint, claiming demonstrators were within 500 feet (as the crow flies) of her home, violating a 15-year-old injunction that, it turns out, was no longer in effect.

Union President John Gallagher said his members were never within 500 feet of the residence. With the help of the NYSUT general counsel's office, the charges were dropped.

Such incidents are part of everyday life in the East Meadow Union Free School District.

"They want the union to go away," said Gallagher. "Working collaboratively is not part of their agenda."

"The behavior of the administration and school board in East Meadow is deplorable," said NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi. "They need to understand that EMTA is not going away. The administration's arrogance will only strengthen the resolve of EMTA's members and redouble the support they receive from NYSUT and their sisters and brothers in surrounding districts. Sadly, this school board and administration have blackened the reputation of an otherwise positive and supportive community."

A hostile administration

At the Oct. 19 school board meeting, Superintendent Dillon admitted that on school picture day he asked the photographer to remove the teachers from the class photos, simply because some teachers were wearing EMTA T-shirts that would not have been visible in the photos anyway. According to EMTA Vice President Mary Bartoszek, Dillon's move offended teachers and students, but was very indicative of how the district bargains.

"Their attitude is, 'This is what you should want, now get out of the picture,'" said Bartoszek.

Dillon also reflected during the October board meeting that he'd be willing to consider eliminating tenure for teachers. The two sides are far apart philosophically and financially.

In fact, what has occurred at East Meadow has been union-busting, with the administration routinely showing no respect for union rights or collective bargaining. EMTA recently settled to its satisfaction three Public Employment Relations Board actions against the administration, charging, among other things, that administrators have encouraged SRPs to disaffiliate and have pressured union members to reveal what was said during confidential union meetings.

There may be another action coming. In November, the high school building principal tried to discipline for insubordination EMTA's building rep, citing informational picketing before the school day - an intimidation move that EMTA is prepared to fight.

Unfortunately, Gallagher said, the administration is "not motivated by PERB" actions.

Gallagher's life has gone topsy-turvy as he tries to navigate his union through a dysfunctional collective bargaining process. East Meadow teachers, particularly the veterans, are among the lowest paid in Nassau County, even though the district has a multi-million dollar surplus, which was revealed during a fact-finding process led by PERB-appointed fact-finder Theodore Lang.

Some of that money has found its way to administrator salaries. Dillon's total compensation, according to State Ed documents, has increased from $142,835 during the 2000-01 year to nearly $220,000 for 2004-05 (the last year currently on file) - a 54 percent increase. Meanwhile, the administration has offered teachers raises that wouldn't cover cost-of-living increases on Long Island, while also demanding that teachers pay more for their health insurance.

The East Meadow administration has tried unsuccessfully to marginalize and demonize Gallagher for refusing to present unreasonable offers to his members. When EMTA's negotiations team did not accept one administration offer and insisted on actually bargaining during the collective-bargaining process, the administration put the offer details in a letter and sent it to all East Meadow residents.

Such moves have made EMTA so frustrated it has tried to tell its side of the story through picketing before school, at board meetings and before home football games; through advertisements, including an airplane banner; and by wearing T-shirts imploring the board to negotiate fairly. Gallagher said the administration's harsh negotiating stance has forced EMTA to make the contract situation more public than the union would prefer.

Dillon has repeatedly gone around union leaders and sent collective bargaining communications to EMTA members. In an April 26 memo to SRPs, Dillon said Gallagher and his team refused to present a "comprehensive and generous proposal" to the members, summarizing the rejected proposal (which was not one of the most generous in Nassau County, as the memo erroneously claimed).

In an Oct. 28, 2005, memo to EMTA members, Dillon reflected that EMTA had blown an opportunity to settle and implied that the union did not care about negotiating for its SRPs. Dillon's stratagems to divide the EMTA, Gallagher said, have backfired badly.

"Our members know what we're proposing," said Gallagher. "They know we represent our teachers and SRPs equally."

Smoke and mirrors

Dillon's claim that the community supports the board's harsh negotiating stance was not confirmed at the Oct. 19 meeting. Most community members elected to sit with EMTA in the overflow room. Many spoke up for the union and clapped when union members spoke. Student Melissa Meade urged board members to respect teachers and SRPs. East Meadow resident Rich Wilen, who teaches in another district, told the board they had to be willing to pay for quality. Not a single community member defended the board.

Dillon complained that EMTA had held up the settlement process by refusing to accept a fact-finder's report - a claim that enraged EMTA members in the overflow room. Only under subsequent questioning from Gallagher did Dillon admit that the administration had also rejected the report.

When Gallagher asked Dillon pointedly whether he would be willing now to accept fact-finding recommendations, Dillon said no. Why? Probably because a school finance expert provided by NYSUT testified during the fact-finding process that the district had more than enough money to offer teachers and SRPs double-digit pay increases, beyond what EMTA was requesting. Labor relations specialist Mary Meyers and the NYSUT regional office in Nassau County have helped EMTA through its bargaining ordeal through research, negotiating assistance and logistical support.

Dillon's attitude toward school staffers and the community was evident at the Oct. 19 board meeting. When Wendy Okun, who has taught in East Meadow for more than 30 years, commented that she had become disheartened by the lengthy dispute, Dillon replied that maybe she should look for another job. When a parent suggested that she had considered moving with her children out of the district because of the hostility that marks East Meadow's education system, Dillon nonchalantly told her it was a "personal choice."

After that comment, someone yelled from the back of the overflow room, "Why did he even become a superintendent?" During the meeting, Dillon insisted that he needed to protect the business interests of the community, sounding more like a corporate lobbyist than a superintendent tasked with securing adequate education funding.

Gallagher won't allow the union to be marginalized. Standing with him at the Oct. 19 meeting were hundreds of EMTA members, NYSUT staff and members from other Long Island unions. His union brothers and sisters know that East Meadow is just one battle in the overall struggle to protect union rights and that tomorrow the same thing could happen to their unions.

"We need to fight for each other," said John Mansfield, vice president of the Lindenhurst Teachers Association, as he stood with EMTA members at the event. "Labor is taking a hit. We have no choice."

- Kevin Hart