MILTON — Starting June 27, Santa Rosa County teachers will have a choice to make regarding their union representation.
By secret ballot, they will be able to vote whether to remain with the Santa Rosa Professional Educators, to elect the Santa Rosa Educators Association as their new representation, or to choose to have no union representation.
The vote will occur during legal proceedings between three Holley-Navarre Intermediate School teachers, Carol Poterek, Melanie Peters and Catherine Wilson, and the SRPE.
On May 4, 2016, Poterek, Peters and Wilson filed unfair labor practice charges with the Public Employees Relations Commission against the SRPE.
The charges alleged the SRPE violated state statutes by refusing to provide the three teachers with complete access to its income and expense accounts and by retaliating against them after they sought access, according to PERC Case Number CB-2016-016.
On Feb. 10, the PERC hearing officer concluded SRPE did not retaliate against the charging parties but did refuse to provide the teachers with access to its income, expense accounts and two years of income returns.
On April 3, the PERC ordered SRPE to do four things. SRPE has to make its income and expense accounts available to the charging parties, the three teachers, pay their litigation costs, post a notice in conspicuous locations saying it will comply with these orders, and have a union representative sign it.
SRPE is appealing the PERC decision, which is in process, but will still have to post the notice, according to a Florida First District Court of Appeal order, case number 1D17-1820, released June 22.
Judges James Wolf and Lori Rowe concurred with the order while Judge Susan Kelsey dissented.
Regarding the vote, PERC will mail the ballots June 27 and will count them July 25, according to PERC’s Supervisor of Elections Eddie Johnson.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Teacher's union appealing unfair labor practice charge