A Look at Dispute Between ELPS and Union After Tentative Agreement Reached

ELi has learned that the East Lansing Public Schools District and the union representing the district’s administrative assistants have reached “a tentative agreement for a new collective bargaining agreement.”

In a document obtained from a district employee, the points of agreement are vaguely laid out, including fair and competitive compensation and improved working conditions. The agreement is being finalized and still needs to be approved by the Board of Education. A new contract would go into effect July 1.

The announcement follows months of negotiations, often boiling over into impassioned testimonies at school board meetings and Friday walk-in demonstrations.

ELi looked into some of the public claims made during the private deliberations.

Administrator’s son being hired at elevated pay called out.

A common talking point heard in public was that Elisha Glover, hired as district benefits coordinator, was brought on at a salary level that exceeded that of several administrative assistants who have worked in the district for years.

Glover was hired last year when the district and union were between contracts.

Speakers at board meetings openly wondered why Glover was awarded an elevated starting salary.

Both Superintendent Dori Leyko and Director of Finance and Operations Rich Pugh told ELi that Glover’s mother, Rulesha Glover-Payne, the district’s chief human resources officer, had nothing to do with his hiring.

“I did not learn about Mr. Glover applying until applications were printed for me to review,” Pugh said. “Ms. Glover-Payne was not part of the interview or selection process which is not uncommon for support positions or building level positions that are not under her supervision. Ms. Glover-Payne[‘s] involvement was limited to a review of the draft job posting prior to it being finalized.”

ELi submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to ELPS, asking for application materials for Glover and any other candidates along with any hiring committee materials, rubrics and email communications between the hiring committee, Glover and Glover-Payne. In nearly 500 pages of documents, the selection process was outlined.

The hiring committee consisted of Pugh, Payroll Supervisor Gail Lalonde and Human Resources Administrative Assistant Aileen Hecht.

Both Lalonde and Hecht declined ELi requests for interviews, directing questions to Leyko and Pugh.

Glover was one of four candidates interviewed. The other interviewed applicants were ELHS Registrar Bonnie McGraw, a person who worked as a realtor in Williamston, and an individual who worked as an administrative assistant in Jackson.

Lalonde and Hecht each shared their rankings of the four candidates with Pugh and these were included in the cache of FOIA documents.

Lalonde’s first choice was McGraw, who she wrote “has shown her dedication to the district in her length of employment” and “has shown her ability and desire to learn by changing jobs and learning new things.”

Glover was ranked last on her list.

“I think Eli would be a great employee,” Lalonde wrote, “but I do feel that he was looking for a supervisory position with a team to lead, and will be bored with the job.”

Hecht, who serves as administrative assistant to Glover-Payne, provided two rankings to Pugh. On June 28, she submitted a rank in order of the realtor, McGraw, Glover, and the Jackson administrative assistant. The next morning, she emailed Pugh again, saying, “After a lot of thought, I decided to change my top four.”

This new list moved Glover to the top, followed by McGraw, the realtor and the Jackson administrative assistant.

In an email to Hecht, ELi asked what caused her to reevaluate her ranking, but she declined to answer.

In the FOIA documents, there did not seem to be a ranking from Pugh, but there was a list of pros and cons for the candidates. When evaluating Glover, Pugh saw “pros” of “bright/knowledgeable” and “MESSA [Michigan Education Special Services Association] experience,” Pugh did note “mother/son dynamic” as a potential con.

At this point, Pugh elected to do a final round of interviews with Glover, McGraw and the Jackson assistant, this time with only he and Leyko on the other side of the table.

“Each hiring process may have its own unique circumstances,” Pugh told ELi in an email. “Given we had a central office employee’s son make the final round interviews, for a central office position, I requested the superintendent to participate in final round interviews.”

Glover was the victor in this final round and negotiations between the parties followed.

“I was certainly sensitive to the employee’s relationship to a central office administrator and thus tried to make sure that the process was unbiased,” Pugh said.

“I reviewed the job offer with the Superintendent,” he said. “We offered $25 per hour and Mr. Glover countered with $27 per hour. We settled on $26 per hour. The offer was based on his experience in the benefits industry.”

According to his resume, Glover’s experience in the benefits industry stretches back to 2007 when he began serving as benefit and entitlements administrator for the U.S. Air Force at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. He stayed with the Air Force, both at Lackland and at a base in the United Kingdom, until 2015. 

Glover did similar employee benefits work for Whataburger in San Antonio and MESSA between 2017 and 2022.

“At the time of the posting and hire the position was non-union as the previous union was disclaimed by their representation,” Pugh said. “It is not uncommon for employees to compare their compensation to other employees. We try to be sensitive to that.”

Because the administrative assistants were without a union and between contracts, Glover could be hired without restrictions from the non-existent collective bargaining agreement.

The union ELPS administrative assistants used to belonged to, the International Union of Operating, previously had a collective bargaining contract with the district designating that a newly hired benefits coordinator would be hired between steps one and four. Glover was, according to district employees, hired at step 12.

“Steps” are used to define employee pay and determined by years of service. Sometimes employers offer to start prospective employees on an advanced step to incentivize them to accept a position.

One district employee, asking to remain anonymous, alleged that the hiring of Glover over an ELPS union member (McGraw) goes against an unofficial common practice the district has observed of moving union members to other union positions when they apply for the position.

Leyko responds to claim that ELPS “only district in the state” to not honor contract.

At the March 11 board meeting, Rebecca McAndrews, administrative assistant at Marble Elementary remarked that she was “surprised and saddened to learn that ours was the only district in the state of Michigan that chose not to honor the contracts of those dropped by the union.”

When asked about the accusations, Glover-Payne responded to an email from ELi with, “Your inquiry falls within labor relations/union organizing and may be best answered by a AFSCME member/representative.”

Leyko offered more details.

“Honestly, I’m not really sure of the specifics to which they are referring when making that statement,” she said. “We honored the hourly rates, benefits and insurance from the previous CBA [collective bargaining agreement]. We went from a 30ish-page document to a five-page contract with each employee so obviously much of the language was cut out. In fact, we actually increased the cash in lieu (of insurance) monthly stipend when we went to the individual contracts.

“My best guess at these comments, although you’d have to ask the individuals making them, is that they are referring to the language in the previous CBA that would have limited the number of steps we could have offered a new hire in to the union. But in terms of compensation and benefits, we absolutely honored the prior CBA.

“The ‘only district in the state’ comment makes no sense as their previous union IUOE dropped the administrative assistants group in East Lansing and I’m not aware of other districts in this situation.”

ELi reached out to McAndrews to clarify what she meant, but she declined to comment further.

The school board meets tonight (April 8) at 7:00 p.m. at the high school. The potential collective bargaining agreement is not on the agenda. The district is in the “ratification and board approval process,” Leyko said. The new contract would go into effect July 1.