BEMIDJI — A Beltrami County judge reversed an injunction on the Bemidji Area Schools district related to educator union activity after a Monday, Jan. 30, hearing.
Judge John Melbye’s Tuesday decision rescinded his Jan. 23 ruling, which had ordered the district to allow Bemidji Education Association members to distribute flyers on school grounds to community members. In demanding the union cease its actions, school officials cited a district policy requiring permission for outside groups to hand out materials on school property.
The local bargaining unit and the district have not yet reached agreement on the 2023-25 contract, meaning educators have worked for almost seven months without one. The flyers — distributed at a middle school band concert in December 2023 and during parent pickup and dropoff times — asked recipients to support the union in its efforts to obtain salary increases.
In a memo opposing the union’s motion seeking the injunction and a temporary restraining order, the district argued that the union failed to demonstrate its case under applicable state law.
“Schools and other public employees are very different than private companies, which is precisely why a different law applies to them,” the memo states. “The temporary order ... is not preserving the status quo but instead is granting expansive and new rights to the union that to date have not been recognized [in Minnesota law].”
The district further argued that if the judge’s injunction remained, the harm to the district would outweigh any harm to the union and cause many issues in retaining its property as a non-public forum. It noted the union’s tactic of informational picketing on school grounds appeared to be new and there are other avenues available to voice concerns. This includes outside the district office in downtown Bemidji on public sidewalks.
Questions that might arise, the district argued, include whether the district would be “engaging in viewpoint discrimination if it allows employees to handbill on district property but prohibits other individuals from distributing materials on district property opposing the union’s messages.”
With an unfair labor practices complaint made by the union concerning the same issue now pending before the state’s Public Employment Relations Board, the school district argued the court’s intervention with an injunction was not warranted.
In its court filings, the union questioned whether the district consistently applied its policy to all outside groups distributing materials on school grounds. This included a distribution of Bibles to students by Gideons International last fall and various other groups.
In an affidavit from Jordan Hickman, Bemidji schools human resources director, the district stated almost all the groups cited by the district were in accordance with school policy, except for the Gideons group. In that case, Hickman said the Bible distribution at Bemidji Middle School was independently organized by a Bemidji School Board member and not sanctioned by the district. But Hickman instructed the principal to stop the disbursement upon learning of it.
Hickman, who is also the lead negotiator for the district on contract talks, did not identify the School Board member at issue.
“I believe that if the union is allowed to distribute materials on school property and at school events that this will be disruptive to the efficient operation of the district’s business,” Hickman wrote.
“ ... I anticipate that the district will also get requests from other groups or individuals to distribute information on school property, and the district will have to explain why the district’s policies ... applies to them but not employees.”
With the reversal, the district court case is now closed. Melbye’s order allows the district’s cease-and-desist demand back into effect while the unfair labor practices complaint is contemplated by the state board.
Superintendent Jeremy Olson declined to comment on the case Wednesday night. A request for comment from the union was not returned.
