Special Needs Prom Jeopardized by ‘Toxic Work Environment’

Monday, March 09, 2015

Annie Ellison, GoLocalPDX Reporter

A celebrated event put on by the Multnomah Education Services District (MESD) for students with disabilities is facing cancellation, according to the chief organizer.

Special Needs Prom, an event coordinated by MESD transition programs teacher Brett Bigham since 2010, invites students with heightened levels of need, from various districts, to attend a dance hosted at Skateworld in Gresham.

A deteriorating work relationship between Bigham and MESD administrators, marked by complaints with Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI), Oregon’s Teacher Standards and Practices Commission, and heated contract negotiations, led to communication breakdowns that have prom planning at a standstill.

“The District has taken away my access to the fundraising we’ve done,” Bigham said. “I have no choice but to cancel the prom if I have no way to pay for it.”

Bigham, Oregon’s Teacher of the Year in 2014, is in the midst of a conflict with MESD administrators that stems from allegations he was harassed and bullied for his sexuality, then retaliated against for filing complaints.

Read the full story here

According to emails between Bigham and MESD administrators, in November 2014, Bigham’s MESD purchase card was de-authorized, blocking his access to the account in which the funds raised for the prom are held.

“I am supposed to pay for the prom without a credit card,” Bigham said. “I can't pay it out of pocket.”

Prom Innovative, Inclusive

The prom project began as an extracurricular activity, put on voluntarily by Bigham and a handful of MESD staff working in the district’s transition program, most of them para educators working in the transition program classroom. While most high school students experience prom in their senior or junior years, some students with disabilities are unable to attend because support staff are unavailable, or the venue has restricted accessibility.

The prom fund grew substantially in recent years, after Bigham donated $5,000 from a Bank of America Neighborhood Hero Award to the fund, along with the proceeds of several paid speeches during his tenure as Teacher of the Year. A November MESD board meeting honored Peggy Bigham, 77, for sewing table runners and quilts sold to raise money for the event.

Last year, 230 students attended the special needs prom, which drew attention from both local and national media, but Bigham said he spent the weekend debating whether to send out an email cancelling the event.

'Going ahead as scheduled'

In a Nov. 25 email sent to MESD Supt. Barbara Jorgensen, board chair Bernie Giusto and Oregon Education Association (OEA) representative Alan Moore, Bigham expressed his concern for the event in light of his purchase card’s cancellation.

“We run the prom and all prom purchases are run through our classroom account on the [purchase] card,” Bigham wrote. “We have several grants, prizes and money from my speeches that are in an account accessed by the [purchase] card.”

MESD spokeswoman Laura Conroy said Friday the prom is going ahead as scheduled, and that Bigham’s purchase card has been available, waiting to be picked up, since December.

Conroy’s statement came as news to Bigham, he said, who last reached out to MESD financial services staffer Brian Altman roughly a week ago to enquire about the status of his card.

“As of today, I do not have the card, and do not have access,” Bigham said Sunday.

Work off the clock

Para educators -- additional staff who work alongside teachers in the classroom -- have purchase cards with access to the account, but are unable to use them outside their scheduled hours. The staff use the cards to buy groceries for student meals, and to stock the school’s “Galley” cafe and “Coffee Nook” run by transition program students.

In a Feb. 4 email to Bigham, MESD Supervisor Kelly Raf explains compensation for any work done outside scheduled hours must be approved ahead of time.

“Failure to seek prior written approval may result in disciplinary action,” Raf wrote.

Bigham, who completed the shopping for the prom event on his own time in years past, said staff were uncomfortable shopping for supplies outside work hours due to threats of discipline in what he said has become a “toxic work environment.” Emails obtained by GoLocalPDX show MESD HR Director Heyke Nickerson offered Bigham the opportunity to attend an event in D.C. if he withdrew the complaints he filed with BOLI and TSPC. The OEA, the union representing MESD staff, has called the move illegal and retaliatory.

Mean time, Bigham worries the prom, organized by transition programs staff and family members, has fallen behind schedule.

“Usually by now we have all the decorations bought,” he said.

While a ruling from BOLI on complaints of harassment, discrimination and retaliation is pending, and Supt. Jorgensen is no longer working on the MESD campus, the Skateworld, Gresham venue is still booked for the May 15 prom.

Related Slideshow: Top 100 Oregon High Schools

GoLocalPDX has ranked high schools across the state based on a method developed at Babson College, Mass. See below for the top 100 schools in the Beaver State.

Special Needs Prom Jeopardized by ‘Toxic Work Environment’

Prom Innovative, Inclusive

'Going ahead as scheduled'

Work off the clock

Related Slideshow: Top 100 Oregon High Schools

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