District 9 chool board member Mark Bateman was hit with quite a surprise last week.
“The first I heard about that was friday when I picked up my board member packet,” said Bateman.
That’s when he heard his fellow board member, Scott Grissom was calling for his resignation because he says Bateman was spotted on the picket line during the Eagle Point teacher strike in May.
“I would think he would call and ask me if it was true or not,” said Bateman.
“At no time did I picket or protest with employees,” he insisted.
Meantime, officials at the Eagle Point Education Association (EPEA) said tension is also high between the district and the union.
Cave Carrell with the EPEA said while contract negotiations were over at the middle of May after nearly a week of striking, employees are still following through with lawsuits against the district.
“We don’t think there’s much that has merit to it,” said Michael Remick, HR Director for the Eagle Point School District.
The district is facing allegations that officials behaved improperly during contract negotiations.
“I think we were hopeful that was something that we could come to some resolution on, but it sounds like it’s not, so we’re going to deal with it,” said Remick regarding the pending lawsuits.
While the district and union still battle it out, Mark Bateman is just waiting to see if board members will vote for his resignation.
“They can call for one, but you don’t have to do it,” said Bateman.
He said he won’t be resigning unless the community recalls him.
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