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The Virginia Education Association kept a close watch on its Prince William chapter on Monday night, reaching a memorandum of understanding with the Prince William Education Association board of directors that deprives the local chapter of much of its autonomy.

As written, the memorandum gives the state teachers union broad authority over the finances, regulations and elections of the Prince William branch. Seven of PWEA’s 12 board members accepted the memorandum on Monday evening, but PWEA President Maggie Hansford insists the document is illegal unless all PWEA members and their representatives buildings do not agree.

Obtained by InsideNoVa, the memorandum details VEA’s plan to install a trustee to oversee the operations of the local group and requires that local contributions be used to cover 75% of the trustee’s cost.

“The specific concerns regarding the management and government of the PWEA have reached a level where abuse or the perception of abuse must be addressed, to ensure that no federal or national laws are violated or that ethics are not violated. ‘is hampered,’ the memo reads.

In an interview with InsideNoVa, Hansford said the protocol was not legal under the union’s constitution. The VEA did not respond to multiple requests for comment on Tuesday.

“The MoU says that the [VEA] The Trustee advises and consents to any changes in the PWEA statutes, and it violates our statutes because our representative assembly has that power, ”Hansford told InsideNoVa on Tuesday. “Our board of directors, which signs this memorandum of understanding, does not have the power to remove the power of the representative assembly.”

When asked if she would pursue legal action over the dispute, Hansford declined to comment.

The memo – and the decision by the PWEA board of directors to cede authority to the state union – is the latest development in an ongoing saga between Hansford, who was elected president in 2020, and the association‘s board of directors, several of which current and previous members have attempted to overthrow her in two recall votes over the summer.

The conflict could also derail the union’s next push for collective bargaining, now permitted by state law for local government employees.

PWEA is a private organization, so its meetings are not required to be open to the public. InsideNoVa could not independently verify the exact results of the two dismissal votes, but a majority of school building union representatives voted to keep Hansford as president amid allegations of financial mismanagement and a work environment difficile in the PWEA offices. Several board members who supported the recall effort argued that Hansford should not have been able to oversee his recall effort.

Hansford declined to comment on the specific allegations and attempted recall, saying it would hurt the union’s continued efforts on teacher pay and collective bargaining.

“What happened last night was that as we got together, we couldn’t follow the set standards that our board voted on… members who accepted the memorandum.” I will continue to working for members and our number one goal of collective bargaining.

Among the allegations, several board members accused Hansford of raising his salary without the necessary approval last year. Former PWEA president Riley O’Casey said board members filed a police report in the city of Manassas – where the organization is headquartered – but the case number that she gave InsideNoVa returned an investigation unrelated to Hansford or the PWEA. The Manassas City Police Department said it did not have a file on the matter.

Earlier this month, O’Casey took to Facebook to try to gain support for another national teachers union, the American Federation of Teachers. “This is another option for PWCS employees,” O’Casey wrote.

Hansford supporters told InsideNoVa that when the information was presented to the board of directors and union members, she showed there was a misunderstanding about her salary because she was no longer on the county school system’s payroll, but had intentionally done nothing wrong.

A petition launched on Saturday in his defense collected the signatures of nearly 400 members, according to a member of the PWEA committee who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal.

“Our important work has continued, despite the witch hunts and constant suppression attempts, and we will continue to be represented in a thorough and appropriate manner by a president who has always kept his promises during this pandemic,” the petition states. .

Oveta Scott, one of the board members behind the recall effort, told InsideNoVa that she and Vice President Chuck Ronco took the allegations to the VEA and only asked the group state to provide a parliamentarian for future disputes – such as those that arose during the recall of votes.

Instead, she said, the VEA decided to step in with parliamentary oversight and more. Ronco, who also sits on VEA’s board, declined to comment on Tuesday and instead asked questions of VEA communications staff, who did not respond to requests from InsideNoVa.

“Basically, President Hansford wants full autonomy over everything. And if she doesn’t have a hand on it, no one else can, ”Scott told InsideNoVa. “President Hansford, in my opinion, is not a team player. It does not respect parliamentary rules, regulations, structure and protocol. … If a president can control her own dismissal and have proxy votes on her own dismissal … I know my election in the spring will be biased. I know it will be something fishy.

But Hansford supporters say she supports the union’s grassroots membership, which members say have grown faster than any other chapter in Virginia recently because of her efforts to increase interest in the organization. They say the push, influx of new members and increasing attendance at meetings has threatened a small group of more experienced members, many of whom have been on the board for years.

“It was member-driven, and I think that was all the difference between this kind of new school of people… compared to the people who have been involved and retrained in it over the past 15 years,” said Amy McCarthy. , representative of the PWEA building at InsideNoVa. . “And I think I can speak for a majority of members who are just angry. We know that this interference, despite what they say, is going to stop the momentum of everything. “

During Hansford’s tenure, teachers received a 5% increase in the county’s school system budget from 2021-22, and Superintendent LaTanya McDade announced earlier this month that staff would be compensated for the hours. non-contractual spent in school buildings waiting for the buses to pick up the students. .

But these victories could be derisory compared to obtaining the right to collective bargaining. In 2020, the General Assembly repealed the state’s ban on collective bargaining by local government employees, but unions must first get approval from their governing bodies – in this case, the School Board of Prince William County.

In Monday’s meeting with the VEA, Ronco took control of the meeting and called for a vote after Hansford said the process was not in line with the union’s statutes.

A letter signed by PWEA’s board and addressed to members on Tuesday called the board’s issues ‘irreconcilable’ and said Hansford herself violated procedure on Monday evening, forcing Ronco’s hand .

“We want to be clear: this MOU is not a ‘takeover’ by the VEA. This Memorandum of Understanding does not negatively impact collective bargaining. A great deal of misinformation has circulated to vilify the board members who support this tutelage, but this only serves to prevent the kind of behavior that occurred on Monday night, ”the letter read.

But a number of members who contacted InsideNoVa on Tuesday said the move put collective bargaining at risk.

“What we found out last night is that [PWEA board members] doesn’t care what members think. … It’s appalling, the lack of concern for membership, ”said Cynthia Gault, one of the board members who voted against the deal. “The representatives didn’t come once but twice and voted twice to put the whole recall to bed. And once that happened, this MoU suddenly popped up.