BEMIDJI — A Beltrami County judge issued an injunction preventing Bemidji Area Schools from interfering with the union organizing activities of its educators.
Court documents show district officials sought to prevent educators from passing out flyers on school property in December and earlier this month, saying it violated school policies requiring outside groups to get permission from the district office.
According to Judge John Melbye’s Tuesday, Jan. 23, order, the Bemidji Education Association successfully argued the district’s actions would cause irreparable harm to its union organizing. Bemidji educators have now worked for nearly seven months without a contract, and the district and union are working toward an agreement for 2023 through 2025 with the help of a state mediator.
Affidavits from educators described a fear of discipline created by emails from Human Resources Director Jordan Hickman and Superintendent Jeremy Olson because of their union organizing activities.
Reached by phone Wednesday night, Olson declined to comment on the injunction.
These emails came after union members handed out flyers at a Dec. 7, 2023, middle school band concert. The flyers asked recipients to support the Bemidji Education Association in its efforts to obtain salary increases. Informational pickets also took place on occasion before and after school hours as families picked up and dropped off their students.
“This type of behavior creates a potentially uncomfortable start of the day for students as they must walk in close proximity to teachers who are conducting an informational picket to enter the school building."Superintendent Jeremy Olson, in an email to the Bemidji Education Association
“If our district chooses not to use this opportunity to provide its educators with a fair and equitable contract, one that measures up to the districts around us, we will continue to lose high-quality educators to neighboring districts who have demonstrated the importance of investing in their staff!” the flyer states.
Hours before the union’s next planned demonstration at a Dec. 18 high school choir concert, Hickman emailed Union President Alison Tisdell claiming the union violated district policy.
“This is notification that the BEA [Bemidji Education Association] is advised that it must cease and desist from distributing any materials on school grounds or at any District sponsored event unless approval is requested and granted,” the email states.
Recognizing other groups have passed out materials on school property — like members of Gideons International giving bibles to students — the union submitted a data request to find out if the district followed this policy in other instances. The district did not fulfill the request, according to the civil action, and further instructed union leaders that informational picketing of any kind was prohibited on school grounds.
“This type of behavior creates a potentially uncomfortable start of the day for students as they must walk in close proximity to teachers who are conducting an informational picket to enter the school building,” Olson wrote. “The District expects that the Union will not conduct any further informational pickets on District property.”
Union leaders filed an unfair labor practices complaint against the district with the state’s Public Employment Relations Board on Monday. The civil court action, however, argues an injunction is necessary to maintain the status quo while the state board makes a ruling in the matter.
The court order finds the union demonstrated a strong likelihood of success on the merits of its case. Melbye’s injunction prohibits the district from interfering, restraining, or coercing employees in the exercise of rights guaranteed by Minnesota state law, particularly the right to engage in “concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection including peaceful handbilling or picketing.”
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday morning in Beltrami County District Court.
