| SEARCH OnWEAC |
|---|
By Terry Lawler
'There is much Big Foot Educators delivered a letter to the school board November 13 asking that District Administrator Thomas Nykl be removed as director of the investigation of the posting of members’ Social Security numbers on the Internet (see main story). The letter stated in part: “Recently, our staff has been faced with a multitude of issues that have compromised our trust in the leadership of our school and have caused our members to feel growing concern about the future of education at Big Foot High School. There is much apprehension about the trustworthiness of our District Administrator, Mr. Thomas Nykl, and his ability to lead our school. “We believe that a positive climate and personal and professional respect for the teachers and other members of our staff is crucial to the educational success of Big Foot High School students. Furthermore, we believe that these elements essential to quality education, have been severely and negatively impacted by recent well-publicized events such as the release of confidential Social Security numbers and birth years. Unfortunately, the staff is discouraged and our work environment is negatively impacted by not just this one event, but by a growing number of occurrences before and after this event. “Satisfaction and trust in leadership and a positive work climate directly affects our ability to do our jobs well.” |
Identification theft constitutes a very real and dangerous threat to most Americans. Computer owners spend millions of dollars every year to safeguard their personal information from predatory hackers, criminals who “phish” or search for any information on the Web that could enable them to use someone else’s credit card or set up fraudulent accounts or loans in another person’s name. One would expect that one’s employer would respect this right to employee privacy.
Imagine, then, the shock that several current and retired Big Foot High School instructors felt when they discovered that their names, salaries, birth years and Social Security numbers had been posted on the district’s Web page for at least two hours. The perpetrator? Big Foot’s new superintendent, Thomas Nykl.
According to Mike Manghera, president of the Big Foot Educators, personal information for 43 current and 44 former staff members was posted on the school’s Web site. The reason for the posting of this information appears to be an attempt to stir up anti-union feelings in the community in the midst of a difficult contract negotiation.
“It was an attempt to ‘shame’ us,” insisted English instructor Nicole Beckford, who added, “This is not the first time that Tom Nykl has committed a breach of security through e-mail.”
Jerry Wilson, Southern Lakes United Educators (SLUE) Executive Director agreed. “Two to three times before the Social Security incident, Nykl inappropriately released personal, private information about our members through e-mail. This is just the latest incident in what has been a consistent attack against the union, its membership and its leadership which has been going on since mid-August. Mr. Nykl came to this district last July, and he has already worn out his welcome.”
Nykl worked previously in Amherst as the technical coordinator of the Tomorrow River School District. Sources in Amherst say that Nykl “was not a friend of the union.” When the Big Foot teachers took their complaint to the school board, they were disappointed by the board’s lack of reaction.
“Nancy Rasmussen, a highly-respected elementary teacher, spoke at the meeting as a taxpayer and parent,” Beckford said. Rasmussen told the board that Nykl should be removed as district administrator. If the board refused to do so, the board members themselves should be removed, she said. “The board was very condescending,” Beckford said. “They acted as if we were overreacting.”
“The board has been fooled by the administration into thinking that this security breach can easily be remedied,” Wilson said.
Technology instructor Ken Hayward knows better. “I contacted the Federal Trade Commission and spoke to a representative there,” he said. “She informed me of the federal law that applies in this case and then asked me for the particulars. When I told her what happened, she was so shocked that she put her supervisor on the line.”
Retired Detective Ric Bentz, a computer crimes expert and former FBI Cyber Crimes Task Force member, also expressed shock.
Front Lines by Terry Lawler |
“This is a massive catastrophe,” he insisted, “absolutely disastrous. There’s a good reason why federal law changed to prohibit requests for Social Security numbers. Computer criminals have software that continually ‘phishes’ for Social Security numbers. That software can detect and steal a Social Security number in two minutes. It then becomes easy for a criminal to set up phony checking and credit card accounts or even arrange to have your Social Security checks sent to a different address, he said.
Bentz advised everyone who was compromised to get a free credit bureau check from the Internet and to monitor all accounts for several months.
On October 24, Mark Simons, negotiations specialist for WEAC, met with Big Foot crisis team members Mary Burke, Shannon Oglesby, Nicole Beckford, Claudia Ericson, and Ken Hayward, and SLUE Executive Director Jerry Wilson. Out of that meeting came the call for a vote of “no confidence” in Nykl. That vote was held the week of October 27 and a resounding majority of the staff indicated they do not have any confidence in Nykl’s ability to perform the job of district administrator.
On November 13, the Big Foot Educators presented the school board with the results of the no confidence vote. Citing the “multitude of issues that have compromised (the staff’s) trust in the leadership” in the district and the need for “personal and professional respect for the teachers” and other staff members, the Big Foot teachers requested three things from the board:
BFE President Manghera reported that 27 of the union faculty plus non-union staff and several community members “packed the house.” Two community members, a parent and a student, expressed their concerns over the current situation in the district.
Guidance counselor Mary Burke, a cancer survivor, explained her feelings about the security breach.
“Even though I have been cancer-free for several years, the dread of it returning is always in the back of my mind. Similarly, in regard to the posting of my personal information, even though nothing bad has come of it yet, the fear of identity theft occurring in the future is now always with me.”
Big Foot educators get stronger (September 2006 article)
Posted November 17, 2006